
Book_-.]^i^ 




lit |cri(s Ijii mine oluii Comitrptii. 



THREE YEAES 



KANSAS BORDER. 



A CLERGYMAN 

OF THIS EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 






What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?" 

Mkrchaxt of Yemcw. 



MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN^ 

New York : 25 Park Row. Acburx: 107 Genesee St. 

18 5 6. 



A^ 



.<■■ 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year i85G, by 

MILLER, OETON & MULLIGAN, 

Id th^ Clerk's Omce of the District Court, for tlie Southern District ofNew York. 



SlibjartJ ©. Senfei'ns, 

PBIXTER AND STERKOTTPEB, 

No. 26 Frankfort St., N.Y, 



DEDICATION 



DEDICATED, TO BE HANDLED "WITHOUT 



'1 
STATESMEN HANDLED 



ITS AUTHOR. 



[iii] 



AUTHOE'S ADYEETISEMENT. 

While the following pages were going through the press, sedafxj 
old friends remarked to me, that the subject of which I treat, is too 
grave to admit of the levity which is often displayed in the narra- 
tive. The only reply which I can make to this is, that my book is 
a record of facts. The style is my own, the material was furnished 
on the Border. The scenes through which I passed were, in some 
respects, supremely ridiculous, and must be laughable ; there were 
others which were inhuman, and must therefore excite horror. To 
write of events in any other manner than that in which they 
occurred, would not be a true history. 

If the reader will be watchful, he will discover, that in those 
chapters which will perhaps be regarded by him as the most humor- 
ous, Miss Pussy is let out of her confinement ! 

New York, Sent. 5, 185G. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

Introduction, ._-.-_. -.9 



CHAPTER II. 

The Journey Commenced, -.------ H 

CHAPTER III. 

Sad Incidents at Lexington, - - - - - - -15 

CHAPTER IV. 
Weston Revisited, - - - 20 

CHAPTER V. 
"The St. George," - - 22 

CHAPTER VI. 

Then and Now, --.---..-25 

CHAPTER VII. 

Vif^ited by a Eevcrend Brother, who sits for his Portrait, - - - 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Committee of Inquiry, - - - - - - - -88 

CHAPTER IX. 
" The Self-Pcfensives," - - 41 

[V] 



Vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

PAGB 

A Parson called on to Define his Position, - - - - - 44 



CHAPTER XI. 

An Abolitionist sold at Auction, - - - - - - -50 

CHAPTER XII. 
A Pennsylvania Lawyer peddles Beef, but turns out a Here, - - - 55 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Spiritual Things at Kickapoo City, - - - - - - 59 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Twenty-Nine Bedfellows at Leavenworth City, - - - - - 68 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Visit to Bulboni's, in the Pottawattamie country, - - - - 76 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Charley Hart gets the Unanimous Vote of his District, as a Candidate for 

the Legislature, yet Fails of an Election, - - - - - 90 

CHAPTER XVII. 
A Macedonian Cry when liberally Construed, ..... 102 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Law and Gospel. — A Vice-President preaches a Crusade, and an Old School 

Chaplain sells Indulgences, - - - - - - - lOT 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Estimate of Got. Keeder.— " Large Streams from Little Fountains flow," - 113 

CHAPTER XX. 

A Secretary of State and a Priest talk Politics with their Night-Caps on, - 118 



CONTENTS. VU 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PAGE 

A High Church Parson takes Luther for a Model, . - - . 124 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Ben Stringfellow lays aside bis Pipe and gets on his High Horse, - - 136 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Election. — John Ellis, the Ferryman, all right on " the Goose," - - 142 

CHAPTER XXiy. 
Discretion the better part of Valor, .-.._. 148 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Author of the Black Law showing that Circumstances make the Man, 152 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

A Nationa. Democrat offers a Peward for a Violation of the Constitution, 155 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Development.— A New Article required in the Creed, - - 159 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Last Eesource ; or, shaking the Dust otf one's Feet, ... 169 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

In Hunger and Cold, ........ 172 

;CHAPTER XXX. 

Two Weeks Camping amid the Snows, - - - - 179 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
A Cabin and a Claim, - - . - - - - 185 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Preaching the Gospel and finding Oneself, . - - _ - 190 



Viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

PAGE 

A most Important Debate, and a Caucus, - - - - - 195 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Once more called to Mourn, ------ 193 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Ten Dismal and Anxious Weeks, - - - - - - 200 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Fare-well to the Territory, - - • - - - - - 204 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The Past and the Present Condition of Kansas, - - - - 208 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
Territorial Officers, ' - - 215 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Our Country, - - _ . . - - 217 

Appendix, ---- .--- 231 



THREE YEARS 



KANSAS BORDER. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTKODUCTION. 

The writer of the following pages was a Missionary 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in that section of 
the State of Missouri called the Platte Purchase, during 
the years 1851-2. This field of labor gave him every 
opportunity to learn the character and sentiments of 
those who have made themselves prominent in the late 
exciting drama in Kansas. 

While he resided in North- Western Missouri, there 
was but one hojoe expressed with reference to the ''coming 
in," as it was termed, of the Territory which lay on 
the other side of the river — it was to come in as Free 
Territory. 

In the yea.r 1853, he was invited to a charge in the 
city of Chicago, and accepted it. It was during his 
residence in this city that the Kansas Bill was intro- 
duced into Congress, designed to break down a barrier 
1* [9] 



10 THEEE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

to slavery extension, wliicli the Borderers never dream- 
ed of. He was conscious of this fact, and was con- 
strained publicly, at the time, to petition, with others, 
against the measure. He was not alone in the Church, 
as was supposed, in so doing. The late lamented 
Bishop of i^ew York, with several of his most influ- 
ential clergymen, petitioned, with many others of our 
Church, against the bill. 

The hopes held out by the Kansas Bill made the 
people on the border wild. The names of many with 
whom he was familiar, he saw mingled with those 
prominent at public meetings of an exciting and daring 
character. He became much interested in the fate of 
the Territor}^ He sought to go there, but not as a 
partisan. He was recommended by the Bishop of the 
North-West to the Committee of the Domestic Board 
of Missions for an appointment to Kansas Territory as 
a Missionary of the Church. The appointment was 
made and accepted in the summer of 1854. 

Several motives impel him to give to the public a 
relation of personal adventure and experience durino- 
his residence on the border, a period, on the whole, of 
about three years. 

The only criticism which can annoy me, will be to 
prove the falsehood of any important statement made 
in the body of the work. 

Some of my friends tell me that those who do not 
know the author will regard the relation of the whole 
as fiction ; these friends are correct, there is nothmg 
fictitious about the work save the relation^ and this of 
course is the author's prerogative. 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE JOURNEY COMMENCED. 

The greater part of my furniture having been sold at 
public auction on Monday, the 2d day of October, 1854, 
I packed up those most necessary articles for comfort in 
a new country, and consigned them to a house in St. 
Louis. My wife and a pretty infant daughter I took 
with me to the cars, to leave at 11 P. M., for St. Louis. 
During the night it rained excessively. The car in which 
we were seated was thrown off the track. There was 
much confusion, but no person was injured. We were 
obliged, after long delay, to crowd ourselves into other 
cars, and leave the one which was off the track, behind 
us. Our lovely little babe received a cold during the 
exposure of the chilly night, from which she never re- 
covered. We reached Alton late on the afternoon of 
Tuesday, October 8d. We changed from the cars to 
the steamboat which was to take us down the river to 
St. Louis. While on the passage, in the dusk of the 
evening, we had the vexation to meet the steamboat 
Polar Star, bound for the Missouri, — I had telegraphed 
to her Clerk from Chicago to reserve a state-room for my 
family. But our delay by cars frustrated our hope of 
taking advantage of this arrangement. I learned 
afterwards that the state-room had been kept for me 
until the last minute. 

[11] 



12 THEEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

Wlien we arrived in St. Louis, a city in which I was 
not altogether a stranger, I found our babe much worse. 
We took rooms at the Monroe House. In the morn- 
ing I procured a physician for the babe. He did not 
think there was any cause for alarm. We remained 
in St. Louis two days on account of our child. I met 
one or two of my brethren in the ministry. The 
Bishop was absent on a visitation of his Diocese. 
Several of the laity called, and wished us "God 
speed." 

We took joassage on board of the then splendid 
steamer F. X. Aubrey, for Weston, Mo., on Thursday, 
October 5, at evening. We left in hopes that the 
child was much better. The water was unusually low 
on the river, and we advanced very slowly in conse- 
quence. Both m}^ wife and myself were too much 
occupied in solicitude for our child to take any pleas- 
ure on the trij^. We made no acquaintances on board, 
until the child became so alarmingly ill as to excite 
the sympathies of the ofiicers and passengers. We 
experienced the utmost degree of kindness at the hands 
of all. To the Clerk of the steamer, and to Dr. 
Euffiii, of Lexington, Mo., I feel under great obli- 
gation. All our efforts, however, to save the life of 
the child, were vain. It died on the morning of 
the 9th of October, at 1 o'clock. We were just 
below the Baltimore Bar, twelve miles below Lex- 
ington. We reached the bar, and it was soon discov- 
ered that the boat would have to be "sparred over." 
This process occupied thirteen hours. The reader can 
well imagine my anxiety to reach Lexington with the 



FAMILY BEREAVEMENT. ' 13 

body of my babe. The wcatlier during tlie day was 
warm. I was almost distracted, lest I should see the 
tender flesh of my cliild show decided indications of 
decay before I could obtain a metallic case. At one 
time we searclied the boat for material wherewith to 
make a cof&n, but could find none. There was a very 
common and frail box, having potatoes then in, which I at 
one time in despair meditated taking, and, placing the 
body in it, bury it on the bank of the river ! But at 
this moment of time the Genoa, a boat of lighter draft 
than ours, came in sight behind us. I could hardly 
doubt but that she would at once get over the bar. I 
went in haste to the clerk, and asked him if I could 
leave the boat with the body and go on board of the 
Genoa. He told me at once that I could do so, but 
added, that the G. would not get over before we did. 
He was right. I went on tlie forvfard promenade deck 
of our boat ; at this time the Genoa had got close be- 
hind us. I discovered on board of the Genoa, Major 
Eich, sutler at Fort Leavenworth, and once a friend of 
mine. I hastily wrote a line and threw it on board of 
the boat to him, telling him my situation and request- 
ing that if he reached Lexington before we did, that 
he would send the note to the undertaker, that he might 
have a metallic coffin at the Levee when we arrived. 
He replied tliat he would oblige me. Major R. retired, 
and in a few minutes returned accompanied by Major 
Macklin, paymaster at Fort Leavenworth, and once a 
friend of mine. We had not met for eighteen months. 
But in the meantime a Kansas Bill had passed whicli 
allowed a remnant of Barbarism to be extended — a 



14 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDEE. 

feature in tlie Bill wliicli he knew I disliked as mucli 
as it pleased liimself. A few cold words of salutation 
passed between us. My destination was inquired with 
interest. 

I will close this paragraph with the relation of a 
faux pas which, in the simplicity of ni}^ heart, I once 
made at Fort Leavenworth, in conversation with Major 
Macklin. 

Major M., and family, at Fort Leavenworth, belonged 
to that class in our church, who revere the name Cath- 
olic. I was early taught what this sacred name meant. 
At the time of which I write, the usual debate had 
occurred in the Kew York Diocesan Convention with 
reference to the admission of Saint Philip's African 
Church, and its delegate, into union with the Conven- 
tion. Major M. was anxious to learn my opinion about 
the matter. In the impulse of the moment, I concluded 
that his love for consistent Catholicity Avould be greater 
than his prejudice for color against color, and I said, 
how can they keep the church or delegates out on 
Catholic grounds ? " Take care, sir 1 Many a fine 
prospect has been dashed by an unwise remark." 
Thus replied Major M. "We never after talked to- 
gether on the subject, or any of its cognates. This oc- 
curred two years before the passage of the Kansas 
Bill. 



CHAPTER III. 

SAD INCIDENTS AT LEXINGTON. 

We got over the bar before the Genoa did, and 
reached Lexington about nine o'clock at night. I ran 
up into the town, while the boat laj at the Levee, in 
search of the undertaker. He had gone either a hunt- 
ing or fishing, and his office and warehouse were closed. 

Oh ! what was my agony. I hurried down to the 
boat. Told my wife to remain on board and go to 
Weston, while I took the body of my child and wrap- 
ped it in the linen of the bed, took it in my arms, and 
alone left the boat. The boat bell rang off. I took my 
seat in the carriage, and was driven to the hotel. A 
poor Irish woman had also a seat in the carriage. 
"Take care, sir," said she, "you will hurt the head of 
the baby, on the corner of the seat." I burst into tears, 
and sobbed, " No, I will not hurt it." " Ah, is it dead !" 

" Many a word at random spoken 
May soothe or grieve a heart that's broken." 

The proud and enlightened Catholic, Major M., to 
preach the Gospel to whom I had risked my life, on the 
^fissouri, at Fort Leavenworth, j^assed me by on the 
deck of the steamer,* with my dead babe in my arms, 

■^ The Genoa reached Lexington immediately after we did. Major 
M. came on board of our boat. He never sought us out or inquired 
for us. 

[16] 



16 THKEE TEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER, 

wliile tlie poor stranger, and ignorant Eoman Catholic, 
wrung my lieart with her sympathies. 

When we reached the hotel, I asked for a room well 
ventilated. The poor negroes served me well ; better 
than their masters. One went and got me ice. I in- 
quired at the of6.ce of the hotel Avhether I could find a 
vessel to put the ice in, and lay the body on it. I was 
turned over to the negroes in the kitchen. The cook 
was interested at once, told me I might take anything 
that I thought would do. I selected a large copper 
boiler, and placed the ice in it, and laid the body on it. 
The negroes came, with the little ones, to look at the 
pretty Avhite child. Thus they kept coming and going 
until late at night, when I was left, as I desired to be, 
alone, to watch the body and guard it from the many 
rats which infested the house. 

The undertaker came during the night. He had no 
metallic cases. He suggested a cof&n of zinc, and that 
to be placed in a well-made wooden case. These were 
ordered. I did not know at what time a boat might 
come up, and I was anxious to have a]l things in readi- 
ness should one arrive. Very early the next morning 
I awoke a Daguerreian, and told him that I wished to 
have a likeness taken. He prepared to oblige me. I 
took a negro boy to aid me in carrj-ing the copper 
boiler, with the body, over to the artist's room. The 
picture was made to my satisfaction, when the boy aided 
me to carry the boiler with the body to the tinsmith's, 
to be sealed up forever from my eyes. 

I felt much relieved, though in tears. I now waited 
two days at Lexington for a boat, but none came. At 



IMMIGRANTS FOR KANSAS. 17 

midiiiglit, I understood, a stage would leave for Inde- 
pendence, wliicli I resolved to take. The coffin was 
strapped on with the baggage ! and I rode on all night, 
and arrived at Independence the next day. Here Ave 
telegraphed down the river, to learn whether there was 
a boat coming u|). We could hear of none. I took 
the stage once more for Liberty, in Clay County, Mo. 
Here I found that there would no stage leave under 
three days. I remained there all night. Liberty is the 
home of the famous A. Doniphan, Vv^ho led the Missouri 
regiment such wonderful marches in Mexico. I had 
the honor of his acquaintance, but he was not at home. 
From Liberty I telegraphed several times, and at length 
learned from below that the steamer Sam Cloon would 
be up during the night. I took a conveyance and 
went down to the landing, three miles distant, and 
lodged at a little inn on the river bank. The next 
morning it was raining ; and at seven o'clock the Sam 
Cloon blew her whistle. I went on board. I found 
the boat laden with immigrants for Kansas, and others 
merely on a prospecting tour. 

I had hoped now that in twenty -four hours my jour- 
ney would be at an end ; but what was my dismay, 
when I learned that the boat had been injured in her 
passage up, and that she would not go further than 
Kansas City. It was soon discovered, on board the 
boat, who I was, and the object of my journey to Kan- 
sas. I found several gentlemen from New York, Phila- 
delphia, and one from Baltimore, who has since become 
famous in the territorj^ The destination of a part of 
the gentlemen, I was informed, was "Council Grove." 



18 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDEK. 

I knew Avliere it was, and gave tliem some infor- 
mation. Tliej seemed gratified. I was told by tlieir 
leader, that lie was not a member of the Episcopal 
clinrcli, but that lie knew several of liis company 
were. He took my name and future address in the 
Territory, and exjoressed the earnest wish that I 
might visit their settlement, which has since been 
named Council City, and has been made a missionary 
station of our church. Had I at that time thrown my- 
self into the hands of the Free State settlers, I might 
have effected some good, and saved myself many 
troubles ; but I had many intimate and kind friends 
among those who were slave-holders in Missouri, and 
I wished to labor not among them, but in their neigh- 
borhood, only across the river. 

The Sam Cloon reached Kansas City a little before 
nooUj on Saturday, the 14th October. She could go no 
farther. We were now forty miles from Weston. We 
must perform this journey by land. The only con- 
veyance which we could j^rocure was a lumber wagon, 
and a very frail old buggy. The coffin was fastened 
on behind the buggy, and one or two ladies and a 
driver seated themselves inside. Three men and myself 
took the lumber wagon. We crossed the river to the 
Missouri side, and began our journey on a pretty cold 
afternoon. We reached Parkville, in Platte County, 
about eight o'clock in the evening, and took supper. 
We then left for Weston, twenty-eight miles distant. 
We passed through Platte City, the home of David 
Atchison, about 1 o'clock, A. M. We were so numbed 
with cold that we were obliged to halt and kindle a fire. 



ABRIVAL AT WESTON. 19 

When we had become comparatively comfortable we 
left for Weston, seven miles distant, and arrived at four 
A. M. of Sunday morning, the 15th October. I went 
directly to the hotel, the St. George, where I found my 
wife, waiting for me most anxiously. I went at once 
to the sexton to have a grave dug. I o^^'lled no lot in 
the grave-yard. I told him to dig for the present in 
that portion where they buried strangers. Many a 
prodigal son is buried there, far away from their once 
happy homes ! The grave was soon dug. I went to 
tell a friend, a physician, of my loss, and asked him to 
come with me to the grave. The solitary carriage took 
my friend, afterwards a member of the famed Kansas 
Legislature, my wife, the body, and myself, to the grave 
at the break of day, and there I consigned the sweet 
child to the tomb which it had long sought for. The 
father was the officiating clergyman ! There was none 
other of our church in the place, and I would have my 
child buried by none other service than our own. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

WESTON REVISITED. 

"Weston", thougli not the County-seat, is yet tlie 
chief town of Platte County, Mo. Taking all things 
into consideration, it is an important place. For many 
years it remained the only town in the vicinity of Fort 
Leavenworth. It was consequently the immediate 
resort of the free and easy soldier, after pay-day at the 
garrison. I need not describe the condition of his 
finances, or the fancies of his brain, the day after the 
Fair ! The officers' families did most of their marketing 
and trading at this place. The Quarter-Master threw 
millions into the coflPers of the traders at Weston, and 
the farmers and stock-raisers of its neighborhood. The 
streets and shops of the town, two or three times in the 
year, would be crowded with the various tribes of In- 
dians, who would have come to trade after receiving 
their payments. In addition to all these means of gain, 
much of the over-land trade to Kew INIexico, Califor- 
nia, Salt Lake and Oregon, took its rise from here. The 
traders of Weston, in a word, did an immense busi- 
ness. I never was in a town of 2,800 inhabitants, in 
any State, where money, in gold and silver, was so 
plenty, and where wealth was so general in the pos- 
session of the traders. 

Beaide these circumstances, Weston had a character 

[20] 



WESTON REVISITED. 21 

for men and measures, peculiar even in Missouri. Here 
was published the " Platte Argus," the organ of David. 
Atchison : here were the Committee Kooms of the 
famous " Self-Defensives :" here the fate of Empires 
was decided by an oath : here a Southern Confederacy 
occupied the minds of conspirators : here civil war was 
prayed for as a blessing: here B. F. Stringfellow 
smoked his pipe and plotted treason to the Constitu- 
tion: and here Parson Kerr took his drink, quoted 
texts in support of Barbarism, read his doggerels biir- 
lesqueing philanthropy, and printed speeches advising 
bloodshed. 



'i CHAPTER Y. 

THE SAINT GEORGE. 

This was the name of tlie chief Hotel at Weston. 
We remained at it about a month. It was filled to 
overflowing at the time, with lawyers, speculators, and 
politicians. Here was a knot of some half-dozen per. 
sons, eagerly listening to a very fluent Dr. F , des- 
canting on the many advantages of situation and re. 
sources connected with Marysville, one hundred and 
fifty miles interior, on the Big Blue, Kansas : a rude 
pen-and-ink draft of the future city Avas displayed by 
him, and small portions of copper ore exhibited, and 
declared to abound close by the city -limits. Shares in 
the town held at $100 each. In like 'manner the 
praises of Leavenworth were cried aloud. Four hun- 
dred dollars a share, but no title guaranteed. Every 
shareholder must enter into bonds to help to secure 
the title, ^. e., to help to rob the Delaware Indians of 
their land ! 

Bills announcing the completion of the survey at 
Kickapoo City, were thrown in at the door — a sale 
would at once be made. Wonderful advantages at 
Kickaj^oo City — " Fortunes ahead !" " Fortes Fortuna 
juvaC Coal-beds underlie the city! The deepest 
water on the Missouri is at this place ! It will become 
tlie outlet of Salt Creek Yallev ! No humbug about 

[221 



HOTEL SCENE. 23 

tlie title ! Ilurrali for the future Emporium of Kan- 
sas 1 " Walk up, gentlemen. John Ellis' fiat-boat will 
be in waiting to take parties across at 11 o'clock." 

P. T. A., the President of the Atchison Association, 
chaunts the glorj of " Atchison," a new town at the 
mouth of Independence creek, to be the future home 
of Davj the Immortal. All the Mormon immigra- 
tion would outfit there ! 

" Pawnee, Pawnee 1" shouted a shrewd little lawyer* 
and speculator — a little-great-Benton-man, and a sore 
thorn in the side of David. 

" Pawnee, Pawnee, at the head of navigation, on the 
Kansas, near Fort Eiley, the point selected by the 
Governor for the capital of the Territory." 

These towns and fitly more, had their advocates at 
the St. George. Men wxre going out and coming in 
constantly, with rolls of foolscap in their hands, having 
charcoal sketches of future cities thereon. They re- 
minded me of students on a commencement-day, with 
their orations in their hands, flitting about the college- 
buildings. The tall cotton-w^oods of the Territory are 
in sight from the hotel, and a few poor straggling Kick- 
apoo Indians look in amazement at the white men vio- 
lently gesticulating and pointing with their rolls of 
paper towards the Territory, lying in its primitive 
state. Poor Kickapoo, take up your traps and go cait 
forty miles farther — they are selling your little corn- 
pitches and the sites of your wigwams. The very 
burial-place of your fathers has been this day sold in 
town lots, with the bodies therein laid, without the con- 
templation of removal. The lots would not have been 



24 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

taken as a gift, on sucli conditions ! The bell rings ! 
Tlie voices are hnslied for a moment. Tlie rolls of 
paper coil up instantly, without an effort on the part 
of their holders; they are placed carefully in their 
hats, and the crovv^d rushes to the dining-room. The 
bustling multitude help themselves, and when the edge 
of their appetite is taken off, a few murmurs or 
whispers are heard in my neighborhood ! " The Epis- 
copal preacher has got back ! How does he stand on 
the '- goose V^'' Strange cabalistic! I had to learn 
afterwards what it meant ! 



CHAPTER VI. 



THEN AND NOW 



Two years before this visit, wlien I was tlie accred- 
ited Missioi^arj to Weston and St. Joseph, I was told 
that I was very popular ! When I first arrived, a lady 
from Baltimore, since departed this life, canvassed the 
town for nearly a month, soliciting funds to purchase 
a lot for an Episcopal church. She succeeded, but her 
success looked to me very much like failure. She 
Avept at her many rebuffs, and at the misrepresenta- 
tions of her motives. Notwithstanding these things, 
which I thought looked ominous, I was much courted 
and feasted. Several weddings, to which much eclat 
was attached, I had the honor of solemnizing. The 
bride, on one occasion, a pretty Miss of fifteen years, 
a day or two before her marriage, while passing the 
door of her lady friend, at whose house I was staying, 
said, " Mrs. P., fetch along your little preacher, / am 
going to be married in style !" She was married in 
style ; her father, Elijah C, furnished the champagne 
without limit. The first volley of corks numbered 
the years of the bride. At this salute I retired, I hope, 
with honor ! 

Mrs. P., before mentioned, was a sister of one of 
our bishops. She was a Christian, and a member of 
the church. She owned a negro man who wished to 

[26] 



26 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

get married to a Miss Cecilia, a negro girl belonging 
to Mrs. D. Frank mnst go and ask Mrs. D. whether 
he could have Cecilia. Mrs. D. rather hesitated. Poor 
Frank besought her in the most pathetic terms, for his 
ladj-love. "Ah ! now. Miss D., dear, do let me have 
her, I shall die if jou don't !" The heart of Mrs. D. 
was won. 'Now the question was, when, and how, and 
by whom they were to be married. Mrs. P., Frank's 
mistress, told him that I must be got to marr^ him. " A^ , 
Miss Ginny (the lady's name was Virginia), I can't have 
your preacher, because he charges so much !" Mr. P. 
brought Frank up-stairs to my room. Frank address- 
ed me very respectfully by name, and inquired when 
I would next hold service in the church. I wished to 
know why he was so anxious. He turned his cap 
over and over in his hand, and picked at it for a mo- 
ment or two, without answering me. His master had 
to come to the rescue. " Frank is going to be married," 
said he. " Why, Frank," said I, " what do you mean ?" 

Frank was very black, I could not discover that he 
blushed, but I think that he felt a glow in his face, at 
any rate he showed teeth Avhich a duchess might have 
envied. 

"Well, Frank," said I, "you want me to marry 
you. Who is the happy one to be ?" " Cicilly," said 
Frank, " Miss D.'s girl." " AYell, I will marry you two 
weeks from Sunday next, at 2 P. M." "Well, sir, 
how much are you going to charge?" I laughed 
heartily, but poor Frank was much in earnest, I saw, 
and I told him that I Avould not charge him any thin o-, 
as he occasionally swept out the little meeting-house 



NEGKO WEDDING. 27 

at which, we held service. Frank went off much 
pleased at the prospect of getting a good wife so cheaply. 

The negroes made great preparations for the Avedding. 
High life below stairs was to be illustrated. Frank and 
his Cecilia were much envied by the black folks. 
" Goin' to be married in 'Piscopal Meetin'." '^ There'll 
be no livin' with them, I reckon." 

The eventful Sunday came. The tin horn blew for 
meeting, at 1 o'clock. We assembled, and the church 
was filled Avith the white congregation, and the service 
began. I had proceeded as far as the middle of the 
Psalter, when eight or ten couples, headed by the 
bridegroom and the bride, and the procession, followed 
by many stragglers, marched up the aisle to the reading 
desk. I was dismayed. "What should I do ? They 
were too early by three-quarters of an hour. I was 
much afraid that the whites would think that I had 
arranged this matter intentionally, and I at once 
stopped in the service, married, and dismissed the 
party. An old Englishman growled out his displeas- 
ure, "that I had condescended to marry them at all, 
much more that I had permitted such parade !" 

Another instance will go to show the general favor 
in which I once stood. There was living in Weston 
a young lady, as famous as the renowned Sally Ward. 
Eose W. was the sister of a noted Salt Lake and Cali- 
fornia trader. There could be no gala-day in the famed 
Platte Purchase, unless Rose W. was the Star of the 
'^ Dramatis Person^e." When the Missouri River 
Packets laid up to remain all night at Weston, the 
chief clerks, as soon as the boats touched the le v^ee, 



28 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

would travel post-haste and vie with each other to 
gain the gracious response of "I will be there," from 
the " Belle of the Border." The announcement would 
be made. "A dance on board the Isabel, the Clara, 
the Ben West, or whatever might be the name of the 
fortunate boat, — and Eose W. will be there!" Eose 
had been really "engaged" fifty times, but the com- 
munity would exaggerate, for it had Eose off to be 
married a thousand times. Eose never left her home 
for a day, but it was said she had gone to be married ! 

At this time I resided at St. Joseph, thirty miles 
from Weston. A letter reached me saying that my 
services would be required on such an evening to marry 
Eose W. It Avas put into my hands by the stage-driver 
from Weston, who laughed as he performed the action. 
I recognized the handwriting of one whom I knew 
would respect me more than to trifle on such a matter, 
otherwise I should have treated the affair as a hoax. I 
felt satisfied that "the wolf," in the shape of a bride- 
groom, had caught Eose at last. The intelligence 
created some excitement in St. Joseph, however ; none 
would believe it until I should have returned and told 
them on my honor that "the knot had been tied." 

The horse stood saddled for me on the day previous 
to the wedding, and I started for Weston. When I 
drew up at the livcrj^, the heads of the young doctors, 
lawyers, and clerks were protruded, some smiled, 
others laughed equinely, but most looked blank de- 
spair, for they felt that their Cynthia was in good earn- 
est about to withdraw her beams from them forever. 

I went to the rooms of the bridegroom, and there I 



''the belle of the bordee." 29 

learned tliat the brother of the bride disapproved of 
the marriage. This was opposition from an unexpect- 
ed quarter, and even at this late hour I had fears with 
reference to the result. Several committees of confer- 
ence were held by the friends of the " young people," 
to no purpose. The bridegroom, on my recommend- 
ation, went to Eose and put the question, " Shall the 
marriage take place, the veto of your brother to the 
contrary, notwithstanding ?" She answered, — " placet." 
I found that I had a two-third constitutional vote in 
favor of the marriage, and as the parties were both of 
age, I married them. I fancy that John C. Fremont 
would have been glad to have had my services on a 
similar occasion. 

" The Belle of the Border" was refused a weddino-- 

o 

party by her brother, but a rich treat was got up at 
the rooms of her husband. The wife of her brother 
attended and assisted. All the carriages and buggies 
in the neighborhood were in great requisition. Large 
premiums were offered for a horse. Multitudes came 
to town from the country. Horns were blown, drums 
were beat, guns were fired, bonfires were lighted, and 
yells were made by the crowd for the appearance of 
the bridegroom. He was obliged to throw out the 
coin, that the crowd of the uninvited might have 
w^herewith to make merry. The sounds of revelry 
ceased: 

*' The harp that once through Tara's halls 
The soul of music shed, 
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls 
As if that soul were fled." 



30 THREE YEAE3 ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

A day or two after the wedding, the trunk of Mrs. 
P., late Eose W., was opened, and tliere were found, 
among other trinkets indicative of her personal charms, 
and of the estimation in which she had been held, two 
bundles of cigars, and forty-eight Daguerreotypes, the 
likenesses of her rejected suitors ! 

Neither of these parties were connected with the 
Episcopal church; I must be allowed, therefore, to 
think that a non-resident Episcopal clergyman having 
been chosen to perform the ceremiony, indicated a 
choice on personal grounds. 

Still, these circumstances and the like, furnish the 
interesting episodes in ever}- clergyman's life. I would 
by no means have it inferred that I enjoyed one round 
of halcyon days during my first sojourn in the Platte 
country. It was often my privilege, after a journey 
of thirty miles, to "sweep out and dust the room," in 
which service was to be held on the morrow — and to 
carry out the ashes and make the fire on the Sunday 
morning. The regular fare between AYeston and St. 
Joseph, by stage, I had, by a j^ersonal interview, com- 
muted to one-half; and this sum, in the aggregate, for 
one year, I paid with funds not received from my par- 
ishioners. My raiment, unlike that of the Israelites, 
waxed old, and an exchange was never effected 
through the liberality of the people, except in the 
single particular of a pair of inexpressibles, furnished 
by one who has lately become by election, a Free State 
Attorney-General. I can illustrate what I would have 
understood on this head, by a remarkable case in point. 

While I resided at St. Joseph, in 1851, the Call- 



A PARSON FOR CALIFORNIA. 31 

fornia fever had not ceased to rage. Tlie infection 
had even spread to the ranks of the preachers. It will 
be borne in mind that St. Joseph was the "jnmping- 
oif place ;" in other words, it was here the emigrants 
bade farewell to civilization and entered upon the long 
journey through a savage wilderness. 

I was sitting in my study one morning, when I 
heard a footstep on the stairs, and in a moment after- 
wards a modest knock was given on my door. I gave 
the entre^ and a very fine specimen of a gentleman 
stood before me. He held in his hand a large sole- 
leather hat-box. He blushed slightly, while I asked 
him to take a seat. "I called this morning, sir," said 
he, " on what you may regard and what I feel to be, a 
strange errand." So saying, he fumbled in his vest- 
pocket and found the key to his hat-box. He opened 
the box and took out a worsted muffler, about a dozen 
of half-worn shirt collars, and as many, perhaps more 
in number, of white jaconet neckcloths, and a book 
published by the Ap]:)letons, entitled " Five Hundred 
Sketches and Skeletons of Serm^ons." Said he, " Sir, 
I learn that you are the only person in town who 
wears white neckcloths, and I wish to dispose of 
these, together with the accompanying articles ! I am 
going to California." T did not know what to reply — 
I perceived that the man was in his senses, and I hesi- 
tated. He guessed the thought which was passing in 
my mind, and inquired — " How are you sustained 
here ?" " Oh, so, so," said I. " There is but one stor}^," 
said he, "in answer to my own inquiry. My story is 
the tale of nineteen in every twenty of the ministers 



32 THREE YEAKS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

of Clirist, of whatever name. I liave been, sir, a min- 
ister of the Presbyterian cliurcli in Virginia for the last 
fifteen- years. But I have been ever in a condition 
worse than a beggar ; I have been kept in debt. I 
have been fawned on and flattered. Told often what 
a fine sermon I had preached, and what an affecting 
prayer I had made. I was constantly invited out to 
dinner or to tea, but I could put no V argent in my 
purse to pay my rent, get me fuel, or bread for my 
family. I am now on my way to California, and I 
wish to sell out the insignia which appertain to the 
priest's office." I did not know w^hich to do, laugh or 
weep. I purchased his stock — the book I retain yet, 
the hat-box was sold at auction, with other matters, in 
Chicago, and the neckcloths have long since become 
as threadbare and as holey as will be found in the ward- 
robe of any parson whatever. This very true story 
will illustrate the condition of my affairs in days gone 
by, in Weston and St. Joseph ; I had a smile from 
everybody — I could go to tea or to dinner anywhere, 
or I could have with pleasure a carriage to take a ride 
when the owmer did not intend using it himself But 
now how changed ! 

Now, a heart-broken mother is landed solitary on 
the levee at Weston, Avhile her husband is on his sad 
journey behind her with the dead body of her babe : 
she takes her rooms at the hotel, and waits, with awful 
suspense, for six days, his coming, but not a call of 
sympathy is made by the once parishioners of her hus- 
band, who had for many months preached to them the 
Gospel of Christ without money and without price. 
Times change, and we chanoe with them. 



CHAPTER YIL 

VISITED BY A REVEREND BROTHER, WHO SITS 
FOR HIS PORTRAIT. 

When I bad been absent from Weston and St. 
Joseph some months, having accepted a call to Chica- 
go, Illinois, in 1853, I received a letter from the Rev. 
W. N. Irish, then Rector of a parish in Columbus, 
Ohio, making particular inquiries with reference to 
the condition of things at Weston and St. Joseph. I 
replied in as encouraging a strain as I thought was 
consistent, and referred him, for further particulars, to 
the Bishop of Missouri. The result of all was, that, 
very early in the spring of 1854, the Rev. Mr. Irish 
found himself installed in my late charge at these 
towns. I had never had the honor of a personal ac- 
quaintance with my reverend brother. He had con- 
cluded to make his home at St. Joseph, and officiate at 
both points, as I had done. 

While at the St. George Hotel, in Weston, I re- 
ceived a call from him, the nature of which I must 
now disclose. He had come down from St. Joseph, 
and driven to the house of General Stringfellow, in 
Weston. In about an hour after his arrival, he came 
and introduced himself, with a smiling countenance, 
in the parlor of the hotel. I was very glad to see him. 
I believe that he is about the same age with myself, 
and, if memory serves me well, we took orders about 

2* [88] 



84: THEEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

the same time. We were, therefore, more likely to be 
social, and on a par with each other. TVe met on 
ground every inch of which we both knew well. 

There were some two or three persons in the parlor 
at the time. Mr. I. asked me at what points in the 
Territory of Kansas I would officiate. I told him the 
letter of my appointment read, " Fort Leavenworth, 
and parts adjacent." 

" You can't preach at Fort Leavenworth," said Mr. L 

" N"ot at the garrison, I know ; but at the town out- 
side," I replied. 

The bill organizing the Territory located the seat of 
government at Fort Leavenworth-^(this was after- 
wards altered) — but I was under the impression that a 
town would be founded near that post. Mr. I. told 
me that " he had organized a parish, called ' St. Centu- 
rion,' at the garrison, and that, as soon as practicable, 
it would be transferred to Leavenworth City." I re- 
marked that it Avould then come under my care. He 
smiled at my simplicity; and then went on to tell me 
the many favors which he received at the hands of 
Major Maclin's family : he added, that he would visit 
the Major in the morning. I asked him to do me the 
favor to present my regards to Major M. and his fami- 
ly. I was then asked if I would not accompany him 
to the garrison. I told him no; that I had seen Major 
Maclin, on my way up the Missouri, and that he had 
not invited me to visit him at his quarters, as he had 
ever done in times gone by. 

After Mr. Irish had returned from his visit at the 
garrison, he called again at the hotel, and imparted to 



SLAVERY AND THE CIIUECH. 85 

me the information that Major Maclin had said that, 
if I called at his quarters, he would treat me with re- 
spect ; but that he would never invite me there. This 
settled the matter. Mr. Irish went on to inform me, 
that I would receive instructions from the Domestic 
Committee in New York, charging me to keep per- 
fectly quiet with reference to the Slavery question ! I 
was thunderstruck. 

" Mr. Irish," said I, " which side do you take in the 
matter?" 

"I am well satisfied," replied he, " that Kansas will 
become a Slave State." 

"Did you ever hear me say that it would not become 
such ?" 

" No; but you protested against the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, while you were at Chicago." 

'' So did," said I, " Dr. Yf ainwright, the Provisional 
Bishop of New York, and the Chairman of the Domes- 
tic Committee, whose forthcoming instructions to me 
you now anticipate, and forewarn me of." I went on 
to say that, the Committee being composed of clergy 
and laity, it could not, according to the genius of our 
Church, instruct a clergyman with respect to his doc- 
trinal teaching, or otherwise, save in matters of mere 
form. The Committee, I acknowledged, had the pre- 
rogative to make representations to my Bishop, and 
that he could admonish ; and that. Bishop Kemj^er be- 
ing my Bishop, his godly admonitions and counsel I 
would always respect. 

"Well," said Mr. Irish, "the instructions will come, 
in some shape." 



36 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

"It is a bad rule, sir, wMch will network both 
ways," I replied. *' If I cannot be allowed to express 
a hope that Kansas may become a Free State, which 
is to be my future home, I cannot discover by what 
good fortune yon are to escape instruction, when you 
evidently feel satisfaction at the idea of its becoming a 
Slave State, while your home is the State of Missouri. 
We are both in the employ of the Domestic Board 
of Missions." 

He saw, at once, the absurdity of his position, and 
he changed the subject. 

" Well," said he to me, " I am going to officiate at 
Fort Leavenworth whenever I can, and also at Atchi- 
son. I would advise you," he continued, "not to go to 
Atchison ; you will be insulted if you do." 

This was beyond endurance. I told him that he 
must keep within his own mission, and labor within 
the jurisdiction of his own Bishop. That the Territory 
of Kansas was, for the present, my exclusive field. 
He softened down considerably, and I revoked the 
above, and told him to do all the good for which op- 
portunity -might offer within the Territory. He re- 
marked to me that he "dare not invite me to preach 
for him." I presume that this stands without parallel 
in our Church. 

Not many weeks after this interview, it was pub- 
lished in the journals at St. Joseph, that the Eev. W. 
N. Irish would deliver a lecture, entitled " The Ee- 
ligious Sentiment in Henry Clay's Writings." An 
eulogistic editorial notice w^as taken of the lecture, and 
particular commendation given to a passage, in Avhicli 



SLAVEEY AND THE CHURCH. 87 

the reverend gentleman had given a scathing rebuke 
to those ministers who protested against the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise. Two weeks after this, it 
was announced in the papers at Weston, that the lec- 
ture would be repeated in the Methodist meeting-house. 
It was repeated ; our boarding mistress, who was a 
slaveholder, and mj wife, went to hear it. I declined 
going. 

The eloquent passage was repeated: "I am not one 
of those clergymen who protested against the passage 
of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill." The inference which 
all drew was: "There is such 'a pestilent fellow' in 
your midst," 

Many months after these events,, I received signal 
charity in great sickness at the hands of my Eev. Bro- 
ther, for which I can never be too thankful. "Amicus 
Socrates, amicus Plato sed magis amicus Veritas." 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. 

We liad remained a month or six weeks at tlie '' St. 
George Hotel." In tlie meantime, as will hereafter be 
explained, I had made diligent search for a house on 
the Kansas side of the river, but was unsuccessful. 
There was a family in Weston, highly respectable, to 
which I had been recommended to seek a boarding- 
place for my wife, during the winter. My wife was in 
very delicate health, and required much nursing care. 
The principal persons in the family above alluded to, 
were two aged females, a mother and a daughter, and 
both were widows. The mother was upwards of eighty 
years of age, and quite feeble ; she has since died. The 
daughter v/as over sixty years of age. She had three 
sons in California, and one who resided with her. The 
two widows owned between them ten negroes, five or 
six of whom lived at home. Mrs. O., the daughter, 
and manager of household affairs, was a remarkable 
person. I have rarely met with a female of such sound, 
practical good sense ; or of such enlarged views upon 
vexed questions in the State. The family was from 
Lexington, in Kentucky; they had been playmates of 
the "Sage of Ashland." I understood that this Mrs. 
O. was desirous of securing a small family to dwell 
with her, for the sake of the society which would in 



A KEW HOME. 89 

sucli case be afforded. With tlie prayer in my heart 
that God would prosper my errand, I went to seek as 
great a favor, I considered, as I had ever asked from 
any of my fellow-creatures. I approached the house 
with a palpitating heart. I knocked on the door, and 
was admitted by Mrs. 0. Her mother was sitting in 
her easy-chair by the stove, a withered leaf! Her 
mental abilities were not much impaired, however. 
Mrs. 0. was a lady of imposing appearance and man- 
ners. She was tall, but not fleshy. Her hair was a 
very dark brown — she wore spectacles. I made known 
in very modest tones the object of my visit. I per- 
ceived at once, that there no prejudice existed against 
me. It appeared that through her daughter, who had 
died during the year that had just passed, she had con- 
ceived a favorable impression of me. We had met in 
society in past days. There was nothing, therefore, to 
be settled but a purely business matter. The rooms 
which were to spare were shown me; I was more than 
satisfied ; indeed, I would have gone into the kitchen, 
had that been the only place of refuge. Mrs. 0. de- 
sired to see my wife before we could close our agree- 
ment. She was gratified in this respect, and, it appeared, 
more than gratified with tlie interview. We felt at 
home, and we were at home. Mrs. 0. made me her 
confidant and adviser in many of her worldly con- 
cerns. Her favorite son returned from California, and 
she was pleased to introduce me to him as her "dearest 
friend." "Praise the Lord, my soul, and all that is 
within me, bless His holy name." I had found in God 
**a hiding place from the storm," "In the shadow of 



40 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

thj wings will I make my refuge until these calamities 
be overpast." We were now settled in the family. I 
have before said that there were five or six negro ser- 
vants in the house. There were two grown negro 
women, one man, and several half-grown boys and 
girls. "We treated them kindly, but we had been 
accustomed to the proper regard which was paid to 
them by their mistresses, and never, by word or deed, 
intimated that their condition was not a good, and per- 
haps the best, one for them. I never felt inspired to 
render the negro slave discontented with his lot. I 
saw and could appreciate the evil of slavery on both 
classes of the community, the masters and their slaves, 
but it is an overpowering evil. Yain is the help of man ! 
May God help both parties most interested. Man must 
not foster and entail this evil on the posterity of new 
and future empires. We cannot do so without sin ! 

We were in this family now in comparative peace. 
I found that I could leave my invalid wife with these 
good ladies, and their servants, Avhile I was absent in 
the Territory on duty. "But in the midst of all this 
peace the tempter comes." '■' He comes in the shape of 
a woman, to turn this paradise into a hell." Mrs. 
Stringfellow, and another lady, whose name I have 
forgotten, called on Mrs. 0., to inquire " K she was 
aware that she was harboring Abolitionists ?" 

This Mrs. O. related to me herself She told them 
that she was "competent to judge of the character of 
the inmates of her family!" These ladies, and many 
others, discontinued their social calls on Mrs. 0., after 
this time. 



CHAPTEE IX. 



This was the name of a famous Association of Pro - 
Slavery insurrectionists at Weston. It embraced tlie 
inhabitants of the Conntj of Platte, who, on being ex- 
amined and approved, were declared "sound on the 
goose," received the benediction of Parson Kerr, IT. S. A. 
chaplain at Fort Leavenworth — the right hand of 
fellowship from B. F. Stringfellow, and Peter T. Abel, 
the Nimrods of Abolition hunters — the mark in their 
foreheads from Dr. George W. Bay less. Surgeon- General 
of the army of Kansas Occupation — the sacramental 
oath of a true knight of the Manacle of Slavery, from 
David E. Atchison, Yioe-President of the United 
States ! 

This Association has had but one parallel — the famed 
Jacobin Club, in France, with Eobespierre at its head. 
The persons whose names are above-mentioned, occu- 
pied seats " m summo j^eneirale Tonaniis^^ they consti- 
tuted the power behind the throne. Good-natured old 
A. J. Galloway — Father Galloway — was the apparent 
chairman of the Society, and Perry Wallingford was 
the secretary ; not so guileless as Father G., but a chief 
among good fellows, and beyond suspicion "on the 
goose." Dr. George W. Bayless, a gentleman of great 
respectability in Platte County, three miles from "Wes- 

[41] 



42 THKEE YEARS ON" THE KANSAS BORDEK. 

ton, and tlie same distance from Platte City, was an 
active member of tlie Self-Defensives. He was a 
member of my vestry when I bad a charge at Weston. 
I considered his house my pleasantest place of resort ; 
the green spot in the desert. He is a gentleman of 
refinement, rarely to be excelled, of superior education, 
and of exquisite taste. He has at his place a splendid 
conservatory of rare plants ; and this feature is not a 
pwyureus pcomits, but in perfect keeping and consist- 
ency with all around him. 

It is quite common to hear said, that the decent 
people of the border disapprove of the outrages in 
Kansas. I must think that George W. Bajdess, and 
B. F. Stringfellow, the very first among the first of the 
first families of Yirginia, feel greatly complimented ! 
" Save us from our friends." 

George W. B. rises to debate ! 

"Hear, hear!" roar the belted knights of the "Self- 
Defensives." 

Could " the goose" speak, it would say : O, all ye 
faithful in " gooseology," take George for an example 
— his faith must be sound whose conduct's in the 
right. O, ye adepts in gooseology, beware of that 
vilest of all heresies, Solifidianism — "faith without 
Vv^orks is dead." Free-soilism and Abolitionism " still 
livel" "The Union yet stands." Eemeraber the 
words of the apostle of South Carolina (hear, hear)— 
" When I hear a Southern man cry : ' The Union, the 
Union is in danger,' methinks I snuff treason on the 
tainted gale." "In conclusion, hearken unto George, 
and show your faith by your works." Three cheers 



THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. 43 

were here given for "the goose." When the applause 
had subsided, George W. B. offered the following 
resolution : 

" That we, the members of the Platte County Self- 
Defensive Association, do solemnly pledge ourselves to 
go at the call of our brethren who are across the river, 
in Kansas— (here George gave a sly wink, and said, 
' They will surely call us.' Cries of ' They will')— and 
drive out from their midst the abolition traitors." 
Here were deafening cries of "Question — question." 

Fatlier Galloway rose. Poor old man, let him be 
forgiven — he knew not the import of that Eesolution. 
The cape of his old dragoon coat trembled on his 
shoulders, as he rose to inquire " if they were ready 
for the question." " Question— question !" shouted 
the chivalry. " All those who are in favor of the 
Resolution just offered by Dr. Bay less, will say aye." 
"A-Y-E." No man dare say no, so the noes were 
not called for. 

" The thunder ran from pole to pole, 
Olympus shudders, as the thunders roll." 

The crowd of mortals in the streets of Weston, those 
who lived by the public, were mightily alarmed at 
this hubbub among the gods, and they had a meeting 
forthwith, and passed resolutions, inviting immigrants 
to come, as they had heretofore done, and buy goods 
in Weston. The names of those who signed the call 
for this meeting may now be seen, within a gilt frame, 
in some of the public places of Weston. 



CHAPTEE X. 

A PARSON CALLED ON TO DEFINE HIS POSITION. 

" A horrible thing had been committed in the land.' 

The Eev. Frederick Starr was tlie minister of the 
New Scliool Presbyterian Chnrcli, in Weston. He 
had labored with much diligence for seven years in 
this, perhaps the most discouraging field in our coun- 
try. He was a small, active, well-informed young 
man, about thirty years of age, perhaps. He was a 
graduate of Yale College. He was never weary in 
well-doing. His congregation, nevertheless, continued 
very small. Tl:e truth is, he was too faithful a man 
to conciliate such a community. Mr. S., however, 
labored along in faith, and with untiring energy. 
They called called him " The Yankee." It was often 
said that he was "too sharp" — that the man who 
would get round him must graduate in a "Yankee 
college," and take an "ad eundem" degree of "Master 
of Arts," in Kentucky. It is allowed on the Border 
that a Kentucky Yankee " canH he heaC " The Self- 
Defensives" resolved to issue a " quo warranto" against 
Starr. The inquisition was to sit with open doors, in 
the Presbyterian Church. Father Galloway was es- 
corted to the pulpit! His ofdcial robe was that same 
old coat — the dragoon coat — light blue in color — bright 
buttons^ with the glorious eagle of our common coun- 



A PREACHER SUMMONED TO THE BAR. 45 

try stamped thereon, and the letters " U. S. A." Who 
could donbt his authority ? Perry Wallingford, sec- 
retary, took his seat at the Commuuion table. The 
minutes of the last meeting of the " Self-Defensives" 
were laid on the table. The Eev. Mr. Irish took his 
seat in the body of the church. Dr. Bayless and Jack 
Yineyard, the great accusers, took their seats in front. 
Vast numbers of the citizens thronged the body of the 
church. The ladies were there, arrayed in all their 
furbelows on their dresses, and feathers in their bon- 
nets. Their salts and their handkercliiefs were kept 
ready for application. AYhispers were distinctly heard 
in all parts of the building. The City Marshal and 
his assistants were there, to keep order about the doors^ 
The light-haired, fair-complexioned, handsome little 
parson made his appearance. Fear had no place in his 
composition. He was summoned to the bar ! Or, 
rather, to the pulpit of his own church. Several 
smiled at the unusual sight — Father Galloway in the 
desk, and Preacher Starr in the pew ! The minutes 
of the last meeting were read and apjjroved ; the 
Eesolution which summoned the Eev. F. Starr before 
them was then stated to be the order of the day ! The 
reverend culprit came forward, and bowed his head. 

The accusations were read. I think Jack Vineyard 
had this honor. There were three charges, which, if 
not explained, and the minds of the community dis- 
abused, expulsion from the County and the State was 
to be yisited upon the accused. 

The first charge was, that the Eev. F. Starr had 
taught the negroes to read. The second, that he had 



46 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

proposed to a negro man named Henry, to buy his 
freedom, and that lie had been the treasurer and ad- 
viser of said Henry. Third charge, that the Rev. F. 
Starr had been seen riding in a buggy, in open day, 
with a " negro wench." There was quite a buzz among 
the ladies on the announcement of this charge. Father 
Galloway shook his sides with laughter. Mr. Starr, 
himself, smiled, while an oath or two were heard at the 
door. There were decided indications of a break-up, 
but that would never do. "The Self-Defensives" 
must not have their authority impugned or ridiculed- 
The accused must reply to these charges. 

" Perhaps it would turn out a soug, 
Perhaps turn out a sermon." 

Father Galloway informed Brother Starr that he 
was permitted to speak for himself. 

Thanks Avere returned for this privilege, and the 
preacher defended himself, after the manner of Paul 
before Agrippa. 

He reminded the people how long he had been with 
them. That no man had lost a servant by his instru- 
mentality. That he had never intimated to a negro 
that there was a better state for him than that of slav- 
ery. That no servant in town or country, had become 
discontented, indolent, or disobedient to his master or 
mistress, through any fault of his. ISTone of these 
statements were controverted. He came, then, to the 
charges. The first was, " that he had taught negroes to 
read." He plead guilty to the charge, but showed, 



THE TEIAL. 47 

in defence, that in every case wliere he had done so, 
he had had the written permission of the master. 

" The country is going to the devil," cried Jack 
Vineyard, at this statement. 

The parson replied that the owner of the slave could 
give such permission, and that the permission was a 
sufficient indemnity for the teacher. Something was 
grumbled out that he might employ himself better 
than to teach negroes — "That, sir, is a matter of opin- 
ion," replied Starr. With respect to the second charge, 
" that he was the treasurer and adviser of Henry the 
negro," who wished to buy his freedom, he also 
pleaded guilty, but showed that it was all satisfactory 
to the master of Henry. He came now, he said, to the 
third and last charge, and confessed that in this par- 
ticular he would be obliged to throw himself upon the 
mercy of the "Self-Defensives." (Tremendous sensa- 
tion, and cries of " No, no !") Father Galloway laughed 
again ! Cries were made for the ladies to retire. Mr. 
Starr at once perceived that he had been misunder- 
stood, and called on the crowd to listen. " Order, 
order!" shouted Father Galloway. Mr. Starr went on 
to explain, that to the third charge he had not the de- 
cisive rebutting testimony similar to that he had ad- 
vanced to the previous charges. He said " it was 
true that he had ridden in a buggy with a negro ser- 
vant, but how this could be construed into a crime he 
could not comprehend." He was answered, " that 
criminality was not charged. It was the fact itself — 
that it was highly improper in his particular case, as 
he was generally supposed to take too much interest 



48 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 



in 



tlie class of negro servants— that it liad a tendency 
to insubordination by making the negroes think that 
they were as good as their masters." Mr. Starr said, 
" that it was quite a common circumstance to see ser- 
vants riding in the same vehicle with their masters 
and mistresses, and even to have them sit behind them 
on horseback. As well," said he, " might you arraign 
the children in the street for playing with a negro 
child." 

On motion of Dr. Bayless, the charge was dis- 
fliissed. 

The Kev. gentleman was now asked to give his 
opinion on slavery in the abstract. He declined doing 
this, unless they would declare that nothing which he 
might say would ever after be brought forward against 
him. After some discussion this was decided in the 
afl&rmative. 

Mr. S. then went on to say, "that he was a northern 
man — that he had come to dwell amongst them and to 
preach the Gospel of Christ, from an imperative sense 
of duty ; that he was a colonizationist in principle ; 
that on the existence of slavery in the abstract, he be- 
lieved it to be morally and politically wrong ! that 
these were his honest sentiments; that they were born 
with him, and nurtured and fostered by education ; 
that there were no northern men who did not occupy 
the same ground; that it was impossible that their 
sentiments should undergo a radical change in this 
particular." At this stage of the proceeding the Eev. 
W. N. Irish rose up, and begged Mr. Starr's pardon — 
that there were exceptions — that he had been born 



THE CASE DISMISSED. 49 

and educated in the State of New York, and that 
during his residence in the States of Virginia and Mis- 
souri he had radically changed his mind." " Then, 
sir," said Mr. Starr, " it requires exceptions to prove 
rules, and you but illustrate and prove my position !" 
The Kev. Mr. Irish, like the Sage of Kinderhook, 
has earned what he has received from me, the charac- 
ter of " a Northern man with Southern principles." 
Dr. Bayless declared himself satisfied with the defence 
of the Eev. Mr. Starr. The case was dismissed. But 
as often happens, so in this case, the man who has been 
once put on trial can never rid himself of a suspicion. 
The Eev. Mr. Starr was in a few months afterwards 
waited on by a committee and decidedly ordered to 
leave without :mj " ifs or ancUy He left, and I be- 
lieve is now settled somewhere in the neighborhood of 
Kochester New York. 



CHAPTEE XL 

AN ABOLITIONIST SOLD AT AUCTION. 

Theee was residing at Leavenworth City a lawyer 
by tlie name of Phillips. He was very decidedly in 
favor of the Free State interest. His decision of 
character, popular talents, and position, gave him con- 
siderable influence. He had been oftentimes publicly 
abused; at one time he had been seized by a mob at 
Leavenworth, but was rescued by his friends, who were 
driven to desperation by the act, and who seized every 
weapon which came in their way likely to aid them in 
defence. The great hatred by which the Pro-Slavery- 
ites were actuated towai-ds Phillips at this time, was 
accounted for from the fact that he had made an affi- 
davit to the effect that the election at Leavenworth City 
for the members of the Legislature was fraudulent. 
It was in consequence of Phillips, and others, that the 
election was declared void by the Governor, and a new 
suffrage to be taken. The curses which were given to 
Phillips were both loud and deep. Particularly was 
the organ of the " Self-Defensives," the " Platte Argus," 
published at Weston, exercised against him. An elec- 
tion on the border was a matter of no small interest. 
The chivalry, like Cassar of old, had crossed the 
"Kubicon," alias, the Missouri: their dispatch to the 

[50] 



NEWSPAPER THUNDER. 51 

" Platte Argus" ran : " We came, we saw, we con- 
quered." 

Thus tliey did, and returned home. What was their 
dismay when they found a Yankee Lawyer bold enough 
to run up and spike their gun ! The charge of the 
light brigade at Balaklava was child's play compared 
to this ! " The Platte Argus" now had work before it. 
Everything was to be done over again. It had to set 
a tune for these lines : 

" He that fights and runs away, 
May live to fight another day." 

" The Platte Argus" generated, and shot its lightning, 
and rolled its thunder weekly against the cowards of 
Leavenworth City. When its battery would be too 
highly charged with electricity to hold in a v/eek, it 
was obliged to let off in " extras" against the devoted of 
Leavenworth ! " The Argus" " doubted whether there 
was a true friend of ' the goose' in Leavenworth." "If 
there are any of the faithful there, why is the traitor 
Phillips permitted to live!" It continually harped 
against "the Leavenworth Herald." " The ' Herald' 
must not call itself the advocate of ' the goose' while 
that traitor Phillips lived in the same town in which 
it was published." 

"The Herald" would weekly whmiper out its meek 
apologies, and say a word about " cu^cumstances over 
which it had no control!" 

But, "no Avhining, gentlemen," replied "the Argus." 

" The Herald " saw the plight in which it was placed. 
When it took up the "gray goose quill," it dreamed 



52 THREE YEAES ON THE KAKSAS BORDER. 

of the freedom of tlie press, but it awoke, and behold 
it was a dream I 

Come, ''Mr. Herald," stir your stumps, the Diplo- 
mats of the Army of Occupation in Kansas, "The 
"Weston Eegency," the " Self-Defensives" are after you 
with a long pole ! Grive an account of your steward- 
ship. 

Wm. Kives Pollard and Wm. H. Adams, editors of 
" The Herald," asked each other what they should do, 
for, of a verity, their lords were about to take from 
them "the stewardship." 

Wm. Eives Pollard was named after a gentleman, 
and looked like a gentleman; he wore magnificently 
large ruffles in his bosom — a distinctive badge of the 
R F. Y.'s. 

"I tell you what avc will do," said each to the other, 
"let us hetray Phillips to cross the Missouri ; we shall 
have the tar and feathers all ready for him on the Mis- 
souri side." "We Avill strip him, over there, on the 
solitary river-bottom, clip his hair off, coat him with 
tar, and apply the feathers. We shall then ride him 
on a rail through the streets of Weston, while a drum 
shall be beaten, and the chivalry will cry out 'vic- 
tory,' " which, you know, 

*' If not victoiy, is yet revenge.'^ 

'' And every body praised the Duke, 

Who this great fight did win." 
" But what good came of it at last ?" 

Quoth little Peterkiu. 
" Why that I cannot tell," said he ; 
" But 'twas a famous victory." 



A SALE AT AUCTION. 53 

All that tlie editorial corps devised was carried into 
effect. Phillips was enticed over the river. They did 
to him all that was desired. He was brought to 
Weston in that awful plight. They cut off the hair 
of his head, but his strength did not fail him — he was 
a Samson still. His body looked contemptible, but 
the soul of the man was there ; they could not tar and 
feather that ! 

Col. Lewis Burns now approached him, and tried to 
wheedle him to sign a paper declaring that he would 
leave the Territory of Kansas. 

"No, sir," said the hero, "I am in your power, you 
can put me into the Missouri, if you please, but I will 
not voluntarily leave the Territory !" 

A negro was now brought forward, and commanded 
to sell Phillips at auction. 

" How mtich, gentlemen, for a full-blooded abolition- 
ist, dyed in de wool, tar and feathers, and all ?" 

Laughs and jeers followed this sally of humor on 
the part of Sambo. 

"How much, gentlemen? He will go at de fust 
bid." 

A quarter-of-a-cent was bid, and Phillips was sold ! 

Phillips returned to Leavenworth, but the editorial 
corps dare not go back for some days, the indignation 
at Leavenworth was so great against them. 

The Mayor of the city of Weston called a meeting 
to consider the steps, if any were to be taken, with 
reference to the disgraceful proceeding. The Mayor 
declared that he would resign, if such riotous conduct 
was approved by the citizens generally. A large 



64 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

meeting was held, and a most exciting debate took 
place, but tlie proceedings were finally disapproved of 
by the majority of the people. 

This mattered little to the editorial corps. The 
"Platte Argus" endorsed the "Leavenworth Herald;" 
it was declared sound on the "goose." The right-hand 
of fellowship was once more extended to them. Their 
late magnanimity had covered a multitude of sins. 
The Virginia ruffles on the bosom of AVm. Rives Pol- 
lard might at any time be inspected at the office of the 
'' Platte Argus," after this auspicious day ! 



CHAPTER XII. 



A PENNSYLVANIA LAWYER PEDDLES BEEF; BUT 
TURNS OUT A HERO ! 



I WAS one day riding in a buggy with a Dr. F., 
of Weston, from Fort Leavenworth to AYeston. The 
mud in the roads could be measured by the foot. 
Soundings had to be taken by us as we drove along. 
While in the midst of our troubles, a spectacle pre- 
sented itself. A queer-looking, dried-up little man on 
horseback, with a child in his arms, was plodding his 
weary way towards the Fort. lie was followed by a 
female, also on horseback, with a child in her arms ! 
I could not help smiling at the sight. I concluded 
that such people had an object before them in life I 
They were surely in search of something — "the 
bubble reputation " in a quagmire in Kansas. I 
asked Dr. F. who they were, as I observed that he re- 
cognized them with an inclination of the head. The 
Dr. was surprised that / was not acquainted with the 
"Prince of Traitors, McCrea!" "Is that McCrea ?" 
replied I. "0, doctor, you give me too much credit for 
intimacy with the sayings and doings, and the heroes 
of the Free State movement." " Well," replied the 
doctor, " I must acknowledge that there is little to be 
laid to your charge, and I think that I understand you 
better than the most of them at Weston." But this 

[55] 



56 THREE YEAES ON TEIE KANSAS BORDEK. 

is digressing. I had heard of McCrea, but I had never 
seen him before. The hero of my imagination had 
now dwindled into a pigmy, and that pigmy in a 
phght ! First impressions, first impressions, said I — 
alas, alas ! I j)erceived that philosophy was about to 
fail me, and I tried to ransack my brain for historical 
personages whose personal appearance bore no resem- 
blance to the nature of their actions. I had read 
Homer, and I had a dim recollection of a hero men- 
tioned by him, " AVhose little body encased a mighty 
mind." This reminiscence had the magic effect to take 
the child out of McCrea's arms, remove himself from 
off the jaded, drabbled horse ; it stripped him of his 
mean clothing, it trimmed his hair and his beard, it 
arrayed him in the " Toga virilisj'' or the manly gown 
of the ancient Romans, gave him the dignity of a 
Senator (I mean a Roman Senator), the boldness of 
Demosthenes when he harangued against tyrannj^ — 
finally, it put a pistol in his pocket to defend the lib- 
erty of speech ! 

Every Squatter meeting which might be called in 
the neighborhood of Leavenworth, McCrea would be 
at. Squatter Sovereignty meant something in his 
vocabulary, whatever it did not mean at Washington. 
McCrea was forever tacking provisos and amendments 
to the Squatter laws and resolutions, to the great an- 
noyance of the pro-slavery catspaws of the wire-work- 
ing " Self-Defensives." These suggestions were always 
designed to secure fair play to the Free State settlers. 
There were many Free State men in the neighbor- 
hood, and McCrea knew it ; but very few of them pur- 



GOOSE VERSUS BEEF. 57 

sued any aggressive policy — they \Yere afraid of blood- 
shed! But McCrea feared nothing in the shape of a 
man. His enemies gnashed on him with their teeth. 
He was branded as the "Prince of Traitors, or Aboli- 
tionists" — " The Agent of the Emigrant Aid Society," 
and so on. McCrea had to do something for a living, 
as a matter of course. He was a lawyer ; but as there 
was no laiv in his neighborhood, there was, of course, 
nothing for him to do in that line. He stuck up his 
"shingle," " McCrea's Law Ofiice;" but this was to 
keep up appearances merely; and to establish a reputa- 
tion for the harvest in the " good time coming." 
Should anybody now have called at the office of the 
^^ Juris Consult^''^ his wife Avould have told the person 
that her husband had gone out to "peddle beef!" 
Fresh meat was quite a luxury, I can tell my readers. 
As a beef-peddler, McCrea was decidedly popular ! 
He drove his wagon over to Kickapoo City, about 
six miles from Fort Leavenworth. The cry of " Beef, 
beef!" spread like fire on a prairie through the town. 
Men, women and children were seen fleeing from their 
houses, as if they were fleeing from the yawning eartii 
at the time of an earthquake ! The wagon was sur- 
rounded. Part of the beef was sold, and all were cry- 
ing for their share, w^hen one came up who cared more 
for the " goose " than he did for beef, and cried " Aboli- 
tionist." McCrea told all hands to leave the cart, 
threw the cloth over the beef, and closed the sale! 
They besought him in vain. His principles had been 
assailed, they could have no more beef. He drove off 
amid the yells of the crowd ! 
3-^ 



58 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

But McCrea did not give himself up altogetlier to 
beef-peddling. 

Squatter meetings were looked out for as eagerly by 
him as ever cat watched for mouse. When the " spir- 
it" of the "Self-Defensives" came up io trouble the 
w^aters, McCrea let no man get before him, to step in ! 
A great movement was set on foot at Leavenworth, 
which w^as designed to cut off all hopes from the Free 
State men. McCrea, the evil genius, was the first on 
the ground. Many resolutions and noisy debates were 
offered, and held. McCrea moved, and had the good 
fortune to have seconded, a resolution, the exact im- 
port of Avhich I am not noAV able to give; but, no 
doubt, it was on his darling subject — protection to 
Free State squatters. It nettled the crowd excessively. 
Malcolm Clark, a very good fellow when not crossed 
in his plans, rushed on McCrea, in fury, with a club in 
hand! McCrea retreated as far as I understand the 
law in Pennsylvania requires, in order to justify the 
last resource, armed self-defence — drew his pistol, and 
shot Clark dead ! The crowd rushed on McCrea, who 
dashed into the Missouri river ; the mob seized him ; 
preparations were making to hang him, when the dra- 
goons from the garrison rescued him, and put him in 
the guard-house, at the Fort. McCrea, after some 
months' confinement, awaiting trial, escaped. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

SPIRITUAL THINGS AT KICKAPOO CITY. 

My letters of appointment gave me Fort Leavenworth 
and parts adjacent as my field of labor. I will speak 
of Leavenwortli City in another chapter. Kickapoo 
City lies adjacent to Fort Leavenworth — improvements 
were earlier made at this point than at Leavenworth. 
The population was as large in number for a long time. 
I found my prospects better at this place than at Leav- 
enworth. The first newspaper in the Territory was 
published close by the town limits — " The Kansas 
Pioneer," still issued from Kickapoo City. In addition 
to all these things, it was nearer to Weston, where my 
wdfe boarded. I could easily walk the two or three 
miles which intervened between the two places, and 
preach on Sunday. 

The first sermon which was ever preached to the 
wdiites on this ground, I delivered, at the old log-house 
called the " Eoman Catholic Mission of the Kickapoo 
Indians." The files of "The Kansas Pioneer" will 
show this, as this fact was very emphatically stated by 
the editor, in a number of the paper. 

There was quite a large number of persons present. 
The subject of my sermon was : " What shall it profit 
a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
own soul." Tliis text suggested a train of argument 

[59] 



80 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

very suitable to that community ; quarrelling ana con- 
tending, as the people were, about claims and town 
lots. The editor of "The Kansas Pioneer" was there 
— his name was Sexton ; indeed, the paper was printed 
and published under the same roof which covered us 
while preaching. I did not ask the editor to notice 
my sermon, or the circumstances under which it was 
delivered. He did so, however ; but he never did it 
again. It was whispered to him, from some source, 
that I was not sound on the "goose"! I made an 
appointment for the next service to be held in two 
weeks. I had purposed giving the next to Leaven- 
worth City. When I returned, to fulfil my engage- 
ment, I vfas met by the Missionary of the Kickapoo 
Indians, who remarked to me, "I suppose that you are 
aware that I have made an appointment to preach for 
the whites, to-day?" I told him tliat I was not at all 
aware of it. He had never done so before, and never 
would have done so, had I not made appointment there. 
This old gentleman belonged to the " Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South." He could not read a chapter in 
the Bible more correctly than most children of ten years 
in our common schools. His name is N. T. Shaler. 
He was sound on the " goose;" consequently, the log- 
house, which had how passed, by conquest^ into the 
hands of the whites, was offered to him to preach in, 
and denied to me ! I would not postpone my service, 
but went to the house of one of the citizens, whose 
sentiments on the "goose" Avere like mine own. We 
had a very small congregation. I ofl&ciated, and re- 
turned to Weston. If any other sacrifice had been 



BUT NO MATTER. 61 

asked of me, than to postpone my service, I would have 
made it. I saw the trap which was laid for me, very 
plainly. But now" they had got a slight pretext to in- 
jure me ; and the most was made of it. 

" The Kickapoo City Association" had passed a re- 
solution that any religious body might, by its agents, 
select a lot in the town, on the condition that such and 
such a building should be erected thereon in the course 
of eighteen months. The "Self-Defensives," individually, 
had a large interest in this town, and it is amazing to 
me that there was not coupled with the conditions, that 
the religious body should be sound on the " goose." 
But this was an oversight such as the flirthest-sighted 
cannot always guard against. I went and claimed the 
lot — selected it, and had the certificate made out. I 
Avas much encouraged at this success; I had got a foot- 
hold. But, bless you, talk about footholds ! when you 
had " Self-Defensives" to deal wdth ! However, I went 
to an old friend of mine, sound to the core on the 
" goose," and sent to the Legislature without opposi- 
tion. Said I, " Doctor, you are going to live at Kicka- 
poo ; I have got a lot for our church there ; do get up a 
subscription, and for every dollar^ that you get subscribed 
and paid, I wdll add one to it, and we shall have a 
church built at once." The doctor took the bait. He 
disliked the old Kickapoo missionary. The subscription 
Avas got ready in a week or two ; the sums subscribed 
amounted to $350. But the doctor pocketed the sub- 
scription, and I never could get him to explain to me 
why he did it. I think that I can account for it in a 
future chapter. 



62 THEEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

I continued to preacli regularly at Kickapoo City in 
tlie private house of William Braham, a settler, from 
Michigan City, Indiana. He liad a wife and two chil- 
dren, a son and daughter. Many and many a time did 
the Avife weep over her loneliness, and the many petty 
persecutions Avhich she endured because her husband 
had the misfortune to be appointed a justice of the 
peace by Governor Eeeder ! To add to her afflictions, 
and to remove her only companion, her daughter of 
fifteen years died ! I attended that sad funeral. The 
accustomed sympathy of the neighborhood was not ex- 
tended to that heart-broken mother. I ventured once 
to say to a friend of mine in the street of Kickapoo — 
" You and others ought not to treat poor Braham's 
family with such neglect." " He is a villain, sir," was 
the answer! Braham's family had been educated in 
our church, and their children had been baptized in the 
church — ^it was really the only family on whom I had 
much claim, in a spiritual point of view. I would not 
neglect them on any account. 

Under the caption of this sketch, I must mention 
that Mr. Sexton, the first editor of the "Kansas 
Pioneer," and who baptized it to advocate Uoodshed, be- 
came converted under the pious ministry of Parson 
Shaler, has since entered the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. I understand that he is a 
hurning, if not a shining light ! 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

TWENTY-NINE BED-FELLOWS AT LEAVENWORTH CITY. 

I WALKED down to tlie city of Leavenwortli on a 
Saturday, in tlie middle of Kovember, 1854. It had 
been announced that I would preach there on the fol- 
lowing day. Everything was bustle and confusion. 
There were many notables there on that Saturday. 
A. J. Donaldson, Marshal of the Territory, was there; 
Mr. WoodsoD, Secretary of the Territorj^, was there 
that day ; John Calhoun, Surveyor- General of the Ter- 
ritory, was there that day ; Judge Johnson was there ; 
Judge Fleniken, candidate for Congress, was there that 
day ; Martin F. Conway, who came with indorsements 
from the best democrats in Baltimore and New York, 
was there that day; Major Macklin and Major Ogden 
of the army, were there that day ; and many other 
lesser lights were there that day. What brought all 
the talent together there that day ? I will tell it here, 
though I hope that it will not reach the eyes or the 
ears of Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
Caleb Cushing, Attorney-General, or even Jefferson 
Davis, Secretary- at- War. Many of the above-named 
had come to attend a meetino; of the Leavenworth As- 
sociation. This association had laid off a town, on 
lands not subject to pre-emption. They had been 

[63] 



64 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

A^•arnccl by Commissioner Manypenny and Caleb 
Gushing, and gently catechised by Jefferson Davis. The 
town is either laid off on the " Military Eeserve," and 
therefore not subject to pre-emption any more than the 
lands on which Pawnee was laid out at Fort Riley, and 
decided by Jefferson Davis to be given up — or it is laid 
off on Delaware Indian lands, not subject to pre- 
emption, but to be sold to the highest bidder for the 
benefit of the poor Indians. Take which horn you 
please, gentlemen, you are all interlopers ! So the 
most of these gentlemen were down at Leavenworth 
to-day on a speculation ! Yes, gentlemen, you were 
all fishing in forbidden waters to-day. Governor 
Reeder was removed for giving a quid pro quo to the 
Indians for a few hundred acres away in the interior 
of the Territory. Officers in the United States army 
were allowed to wear the uniform while they continued 
to buy and sell that which belonged to the Indians, 
and that which belongs to them to this day, in the 
most important section of their country. Oh, shame 
shame ! 

But the most of the speculators have departed. 
Many have gone to their homes, i. e., to their snug 
quarters at the garrison. Many of them have gone to 
Weston. I could now see who were likely to be on 
hand to-morrow. Pennsylvania was pretty well repre- 
sented. There was Doctor Lieb, who must figure in a 
chapter "all alone by himself" The doctor is worth v 
of this distinction. I will just here observe that the 
doctor had not the least objection to balance a tumbler 
in his hand, and say, "My respects, sir," and then ap- 



LAZY MEN CAN BE ENERGETIC. 65 

ply the instrument to his lips, and allow the contents 
to pass them, as if they were used to ill Let this be 
borne in mind, for the doctor will appear in another 
character by-and-bye. I thought at first that I should 
have the honor of the doctor's presence on the morrow 
at service, but he informed me that he was the "guest 
of the Moravian minister, Mr. Smith, missionary among 
the Delawares." I co-aid tell better, as night approach- 
ed, who were likely to be at service in the morning ! 

The notice of the service came out that day in the 
"Leavenworth Herald;"' it had circulated at the gar- 
rison, only a couple of miles distant. I knew that there 
were several very high church communicants there — • 
perhaps they would be down. I had seen Major M. 
among the speculators — surely he will be down on the 
morrow. I consoled myself with the reflection, that 
the long walk of eight miles would not be in vain — 
that I would not have to pay my two dollars per day 
at the hotel, and no good to accrue from it ! When the 
supper-bell rang, it called in quite a crowd, and I had 
great hopes for the morrow. They looked like men of 
energy, but I could not tell decidedly ; they operated 
lustily at table, but I would not allow myself to esti- 
mate according to this rule ; for I have often been 
forcibly persuaded that the laziest men will manifest 
much energy at their meals, and show a disposition to 
carry away with them heavy burdens ; but, I suppose, 
if they should be expostulated Avdth, they would say 
that the burden was not "grievous to be borne 1" 

" The Leavenworth House," at which T was stopping, 
was a house, to the extent of just having the "balloon 



66 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

frame" up, and cotton- wood clap-board-siding nailed 
thereon. There was neither lath nor plastering there- 
on. We did not have to take a candle in the morning, 
to look for daylight ! Daylight sought us out through 
a thousand holes, in the morning ! But, no anticipa- 
tions. We are at supper — which was a good deal like 
other suppers, under like circumstances. In a few un- 
important items, the supply exceeded the demand. 
Potatoes loom up, now, in the imagination of my read- 
er ; but he is mistaken — they were, at that time, three 
dollars per bushel. No ; the items consisted of long 
strips of fat side pork, swimming in what they call, in 
New York, ^'soap fat." The items wherein the demand 
exceeded the supply, consisted of a little pickled cab- 
bage, pickled cucumber, dried apple-sauce, and some 
biscuits, which the knowing ones were satisfied con- 
tained some flour in their composition. Every man, as 
he rushed to the table, laid one hand on the back of 
his chair, and, with the other, stretched over and se- 
lected the morsel suited to his taste — "there is no 
accounting for tastes ;" three actions were performed 
at the same moment of time — the chair was seized, 
the man sat down in it, and the delicacy found itself 
grasped beyond hope of escape. It exploded the no- 
tion at once, that the mind cannot guide and direct sev- 
eral actions of the body at the same instant. 

There Avas a general laugh among the successful ones ; 
while the rest selected their piece of corn bread, and help- 
ed themselves to the pork. They must have read ''Jacob 
Faithful," and profited by the example of that philo- 
sophic boy—" Keep cool." " Better luck next time." 



COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. 67 

After supper, many of tlie men liquored at tlie bar, 
and procured cigars. I forgot to mention tliat the 
room wliicb. we were in was bar-room, dining room, 
smoking room, w^liittling room, sitting room, standing 
room, coughing room and spitting room, reading room 
and writing room, committee room and debating room. 
After the cigars got well lighted, the house, almost un- 
consciously to itself, dropped into a " Committee of the 
Whole on the state of the Union, and on the state of 
Kansas in particular." There was no secretary formally 
appointed by the meeting ; but I thought that, this be- 
iDg the "Gibraltar" of "Kansas, I would just quietly 
vote myself into that office, for the sake of posterity ; 
we all owe something to our anterity^ and I think we 
must place posterity under obligations to us. At least, 
so I thought on the present occasion. I will, in the 
first place, mention, that almost every State and Terri- 
tory in the Union had a worthy representative. There 
was a son of the Granite State who knew Franklin 
Pierce from the time he was a boy. I think that he 
said that he went to school with him. •" But, la!" said 
he, "nobody thought that he would ever become great!" 
Here, a fellow from New Mexico wanted to know if 
the expectations of Frank's friends had been agreeably 
disappointed ? He went on to give a rather stale ac- 
count of the fainting fit which the Brigadier had on 
the field of battle ; but it was not listened to with any 
relish. Another, from Mississippi, related some youth- 
ful frolics which he had in company with Jefferson 
Davis, He seemed to agree with Col. Benton, that 
Jeff", was " one of them." Another recollected the time 



68 THREE YEAES OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

when Marcy houglit the inexpressibles, wliicli, in after 
years, created so much discussion in polite circles. This 
was taken down by the listeners, as Tom Benton said 
he would swallow the Cincinnati Platform, with the 
proviso that it be brought up by a stomach-pump, or 
some other more forcible process. They looked at the 
wrinkles on his horns, and perceived at once that he 
was too young to have remembered " When those old 
pants were new." 

Several prognostications were made with regard to 
the course of policy which would be pursued by the 
President and his Cabinet with reference to Kansas af- 
fairs. Each had an opinion according to the personal 
knowledge which they had of the different members 
of the Cabinet. Some were hopeful, others desponding. 
Most were disposed to wager their money on the war- 
horse from Mississippi ; they declared that State, In- 
terior, Law, and War, would all be attended to by 
Jefferson Davis — that the affairs of the "goose" were 
safe in his hands. The house Avas not divided on the 
question ; the above was a foregone conclusion. 

The house resolved itself now, by tacit consent, into 
a " Committee of Ways and Means." Lucian J. Eastin, 
occupied the Committee with a few remarks, in which 
they were all personally interested, viz. : How a title 
to the land at Leavenworth City was to be secured. 
Said he, " however much I may write about the cer- 
tainty of securing a title, in my paper, the 'Leaven- 
worth Herald,' there is some doubt about it ! (Hear, 
hear.) In a paper, you know, we write a great deal 
for buncombe (laughter), but to those who are ini- 



PHRENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 69 

tiated there are no secrets. The next House of Eepre- 
sentatives, I feel well satisfied that Jefferson Davis 
cannot manage. The Delaware Treaty, therefore, will 
not be altered (hear, hear, and sensation). This is 
my candid opinion." Lucian resumed his pipe. An 
attorney by the name of Kees, delivered a long argu- 
ment, reviewing the opinion of the Attorney-General, 
Caleb Gushing, on the Delaware Treaty. The other 
members of the Gommittee acknowledged that the 
argument of their Gommittce-man, Mr. Eees, completely 
riddled that of the Attorney-General, but for practical 
purposes it Avas useless. If Jefferson Davis could not 
manage the next House of Eepresentatives, then it was 
all day with them. This seemed to be the general 
opinion. 

Several gentlemen, ayIio had wisely kept themselves 
in the back-ground, and in silence heretofore, now 
ventured to show how long their ears were. These 
gentlemen seemed to have been purchasers of " shares 
in Leavenworth Gity ;" they were not of the original 
stockholders. These poor simple ones had heard a 
magnificent scheme spoken of, which would remove 
all difficulties. A million of dollars were to be raised 
by the original stockholders, and with this sum Wall 
street itself should be outbid on the day of sale ! I 
glanced my eye searchingiy at the foreheads of these 
gentlemen, and I observed some peculiarity in them 
quite similar. I concluded that the bump of Gausality, 
together with that ridge directly over the ej^es, under 
which is said to reside the perceptive faculties, had 
been too closely and too pointedly examined by the 



70 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

digits of their loving and ambitions mammas, wlien 
tlieir craniums were too susceptible of impressions 
being made thereon ! Perhaps it will be better under- 
stood, if I should say, when their foreheads were as 
pliant as a newly -laid egg ! 

The other members of the Committee, who were 
original stockholders, here winked at each other, as 
much as to say, ''allow these gentlemen to enjoy the 
luxury of this happy hallucination !" 

Several other members of the Committee told of 
their experience in such things. They called the 
attention of the Committee to the way in which they 
did things at Fort Snelling (hear, hear). I observed, 
myself, that this was talking to the point in debate. I 
glanced at the craniums of these old-stagers, and what 
was my surprise! I rose from my seat to take a 
bird's-eye view of their crowns, when lo ! there were 
discovered protuberances on each like unto the horns 
of calves, when they are about four months old ! I 
was now satisfied that " blood and fire and vapor of 
smoke " would mingle largely in these gentlemen's re- 
marks. I was not disappointed. Fort Snelling was 
dwelt on with gusto. They had attended the sale 
there. Their pistols and their bowie-knives held in 
their hands, and they would liked to have seen the 
man that would have dared to bid more than one dol- 
lar and a quarter per acre for the land ! (hear, hear, 
and cheers.) Fellow Committee-men, said they, we 
throw out these remarks, hoping that when the hour 
of need comes, they will not be forgotten. Some two 
or three Yankees turned pale at these remarks, but 



SHOWN UP TO BED. 71 

the J will get used to it if thej remain long enougli. 
The Committee began now to drop off one by one — ^ 
finally there was no quorum present, and I asked to 
be shown up stairs. 

I w^as shown up to the hed — the bed was all before 
me where to choose ! The room up stairs was the 
same size as that w^hich we had just left below. It 
had not been partitioned off; nor had lath or plaster 
been used. The wdndows were in — the floor was laid 
temporarily — the boards did not lie close enough to- 
gether to be tight. There was not a bedstead of any 
shape or kind in the room ! We discovered blankets 
of every hue and texture, lying spread all over the 
floor — there were blue blankets, and red blankets — 
gray blankets and dirty 3^cllow blankets ; these latter 
had once been white blankets ; but now they bore the 
color of the Missouri waters wdiich were rolling past, 
a yellowish, muddy color. I say the hed^ therefore, 
lay all before me w^here to choose, with the exception 
of that part of the bed alread}^ occupied. I counted 
noses, and discovered that there were fifteen already in 
the bed ! There were two or three thoughts which 
flashed across my mind — I wished to get as clean a 
blanket as possible, and I desired to be as far removed 
from the rest of my bed-fellows as I could. I saw a 
blue blanket lying close up in one of the corners of 
the bed, i. e., in the corner of the room ; I hastened to 
it, as I heard the footsteps of more bed-fellows coming 
up-stairs — there were six in this last crowd — there 
were now twenty-two, including myself, in the bed — 
not all lain down, but all in the hed ! I observed with 



72 THREE YEARS ON THE KAXSAS BORDER. 

satistaction, that the last knot of bed-fellows did not 
show any disposition to crowd me. They laid off but 
one or two articles of their raiment, and each took 
their blanket and laid down, after having put their boots 
and coats where they intended to place their heads. If 
there were any prayers said by them, tliej^ were not re- 
peated kneeling. In two or three of the acts of these 
gentlemen I imitated them ; for instance, I merely laid 
aside my hat, took off my coat and boots, and put these 
under the place where I had selected to lay my head ; I 
took the blanket and laid me down. Three more bed- 
fellows now came in — these made twenty-five. One 
remarked, it is going to be cold to-night ; yes, they 
all agreed that it would be cold; the wind was 
changing to the North. These two or three came a 
little closer to me than any yet, but this Avas to be 
accounted for from the fact the bed was getting full ! 
I felt the Avind coming in around me, and I at once 
perceived that I had made a mistake in my selection — 
an outside part of the bed, and that part of it w^hicli 
lay towards the North ! I now perceived why I had 
the corner to myself, and my right there was none to 
dispute. It was quite late when the balance of the 
twenty-nine came in. I could not go to sleep on ac- 
count of the cold. These latter gentlemen seemed 
quite anxious about their comfort — they asked each 
other, in an under- tone, whether their feet were more 
likely to be warmer with their boots on or off? There 
was no unity on the question ; one of them came and 
took the candle or lamp in his hand, and then went 
back to where the rest stood. He whispered to them ; 



FILLIBUSTERING. 73 

there was a smotliered chuckle. I at once concluded 
that there was to be some practical joke attempted. 
The fellow who had the lamp walked softly, but 
leisurely and apparently unconcernedly, from one part 
of the bed to the other. He was taking observa- 
tions! He was anxions to know how many stars yet 
twinkled in the plain before him ! The lamp cast its 
beams near me, and I drew^ the curtain over my stars, 
i. e.j I closed mine eyes ! As I was the North Star, 
he seemed to take pity on me, and left me. My stars 
came from under the cloud as soon as he left me, and 
I blinked up just in time to see him removing as 
gently as possible, the blanket from ofp a fellow who 
had evidently gone to dream-land ! One of his com- 
panions now took his turn w-ith the lamp, and was 
equally successful ; and so of the rest. These took 
their places in the bed, with two blankets each, and I 
have no doubt were soon comfortably asleep. The 
poor fellows w^ho were robbed of their blankets began 
to grow weary, and one by one they awoke, and be- 
hold their blankets were gone ! The name of a cer- 
tain spirit and his dwelling-place were muttered with 
evident displeasure by them. The}^ took the lamp and 
went a fillibustering ! They made conquests, and re- 
turned evidently better pleased. Those whom they 
stripped awoke, and one of them made a terrible row. 
He w^as one of those in whom there was no joking, at 
least, he did not relish being the object of a joke. The 
whole bed was in a few^ minutes alive, a general reck- 
oning had to be made. The four fellows who had 
each two blankets began to devise ways and means of 
4 



74 THKEE YEARS O^ THE KANSAS BORDER. 

getting rid of tlieir extras, lest tliej should be called 
to account for that " night's uproar." An equal di- 
vision Y\'as made, but all hands were now so chilled 
that sleep to the great majority was a thing impossi- 
ble. A general conversation began and lasted till 
morning. There was a " great cry, but little wool r 

Preparations were made about the usual hour, for 
service. The blankets were all thrown into a heap to- 
gether. The trunks and boxes which were in the 
room up-stairs, were drawn out, so as to afford seats — 
as many chairs as could be spared from below were 
also brought up — a little stand was placed for me to 
read from. All things being in readiness, I went in 
person to the tents of the people who were camped on 
the town site, and invited them to the service and 
preaching. Yery many replied to me very respect- 
fully, that they would try to be there ; but as I left 
several of the tents, I heard roars of laughter ! The 
little dinner-bell rang for meeting. The congregation 
collected. There were sixty or seventy men, and but 
two or three females. I read portions of Scripture, 
and then made some selections from the Service. I 
read the Litany entire. There w^as not an individual 
there who understood our Service ! 

I preached the same sermon as I had delivered in 
Kickapoo City, on the text, "What shall it profit a 
man if he shall gain the wdiole world and lose his own 
soul." The subject was just as appropriate there as it 
had been at Kickapoo. The people w^ere quarrelling, 
and contending about claims, and lots, every day, with 
the additional reason, that they contemplated sinning 



A QUALIFIED OPINION. 75 

yet more, in making every effort to cheat the Delaware 
Indians out of their lands ! The service was now 
closed. I was anxious to know whether I could make 
another appointment. The keeper of the liotel said 
that he hoped, during the coming week, to have the 
room partitioned off, and phastered, and that in such 
case it would no longer be suitable for service. I dis- 
missed the people without making, at that time, any 
appointment. The congregation went below ; I re- 
mained up-stairs for some little time, arranging my 
papers, &c. 

I have before remarked, that the floor of this room 
was but temporarily laid. There were spaces between 
the boards. The remarks of those who were below 
could be distinctly heard. It is said that listeners hear 
no good of themselves ; but I heard Lucian J. Eastin, 
and another gentleman, talk in rather a mixed style; 
one said, " Fine preacher ;" the other replied, "Yes, but 
not sound on the ' goose.' " 



CHAPTEE XV. 

A VISIT TO BULBONl'S, IN THE POTTAWATAMIiiS 
COUNTKY. 

A DAY or two after m j visit to Leavenworth City, 
I was sitting in tlie office of Dr. Bonnifant, of Weston. 
While there, two Indians came in, belonging to the 
Pottawatamies ; they had come from eighty miles in 
the interior, to get the doctor to go out and see their 
sister, who was lying dangerously ill. The terms on 
which the doctor would visit, were agreed upon ; and he 
determined to go. I asked the doctor how he intended 
to make the journey? He informed me that he would 
go on horseback. I said he would be frozen to death ; 
this was late in Kovember, '54. I told him that I would 
like to go with him, if he would take a conveyance with 
wheels on, as I would like to see that portion of the 
Territory, and also learn what the future prospects for 
the Church might be. We proposed to hire a double 
team, and pay the expense between us. This was at 
once arranged. I hurried up to my boarding-place, 
and in a verj^ few minutes prepared for the journey. 
When I returned to the office of the doctor, a superior 
span of large, gray horses were standing, ready har- 
nessed, in a large Eockaway, before the door. Dr. 
Bower, the partner of Dr. Bonnifant, a real good fellow, 
and his own worst enemy, was bustling about to get a 
barley loaf or two, and some cheese, not forgetting a 

[76] 



A LECTURE ON GOOSEOLOGY. 77 

" comforting flask" for tlie doctor. The Indians led 
the way in their buggy, and we were off 

This chapter has no special denouement ; but it has 
got some notes, which a greater than myself, the re- 
nowned Mr. Pickwick, Avould have transferred to his 
journal with considerable satisfaction. 

We soon reached Fort Leavenworth. Said I, "Doctor, 
just drive to the Sutler's office (wherein Uncle Sam's 
mail-bags were overhauled), I wish to see if there is 
anything there for me. " We drove up." When I had 
got within the door, I heard, as usual, the voice of 
Major Eich, Su.tler, Postmaster, &c., delivering a lec- 
ture on his favorite subject, " gooseology." I went at 
once, without asking (which was a privilege every 
body had), to the dry-goods box, in which bushels of 
papers were, turned them all out on the floor, and then 
sorted them all back again, save those on which I found 
my name written. This process occupied some time. 
Meanwhile the lecture was going on. There were 
several offi.cers of the garrison present, and a few civil- 
ians. The lecture, this morning, was addressed to Ma- 
jor Graham, I think, of the topographical corps, though 
on this point I will not be decided ; at any rate, he was 
of the rank and file of the army, and, therefore. Major 
Rich's superior ofiicer. But it was wonderful to note 
what deference was paid to the teachers of the new 
faith of " gooseology." Major Graham, in the meekest 
tones of voice imaginable, remarked: "But, Major, is 
it not lawful to talk about making Kansas a Free State 
— surely this is the right guaranteed by the organic 
law ?" " Reeder, and his crew of Abolitionists, must be 



78 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

hung, sir." "But I cannot see why," said Major 
Graham. " Stop, stop, Major Graham, it is bad enough 
for you to get letters from Chicago !" He Avas post- 
master^ and of course knew this secret Evidence enough 
to hang a man ! Major Eich now came forward to me; 
I put out my hand in the blandest manner ; this did 
not conciliate the Major. Said he, " Why do you not 
have your letters and papers sent to your own office?" 
" Oh," said I, very coolly, " I am missionary to tlie ivhole 
Territory^ and I am found sometimes at one place, 
sometimes at another ; my friends know this, and I am 
written to at Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth City, 
Kickapoo, Mount Pleasant, &;c." " Well, but where do 
you get the most of your mail matter?" "For the 
present at Weston, where my wife boards." The name 
of Weston seemed to bring to the recollection of the 
old gentleman many favors, and kind attentions, which 
I had paid to his mother-in-laAv, in times of great 
affliction. A favorite daughter had died, and left two 
orphan boys, the nephews of Edward Stiles, Esq., 
lately appointed Minister to Mexico. Before the new 
science of " gooseology" came into vogue, I had been 
anxiously pressed to take the charge of the education 
of these boys ; but as I had not learned this science, 
which was to be a " sine qua non" in their education, 
I would be the last one thought of noAv ! I took my 
papers and left. We were now on the road fairly. It 
'was quite a pleasant day, the roads were excellent. 
We drove over the high, rolling prairies, and soon 
crossed the Stranger Creek, at Dawson's, a famous stock- 
raiser, and teamster, and contractor with the Govern- 



PECULIAR ADVICE. 79 

ment for carrying stores from point to point on the 
plains. ^'It is here, somewhere," said the doctor to 
me, ^' where that Minard lives, whom they shaved, and 
drove out of AVeston, because of his unsoundness on 
the * goose.' I'll be dog'd/' said the doctor, "if it 
was not too bad. It was put to the vote," said he, 
'' and carried by a small majority, that he should be 
shaved, and driven out of the town. He left, and is 
now living here." Yes, and he has defended himself, 
and his neighbors, during the late exciting and bloody 
times. We drove along over the prairies, not a house 
to be seen on either side of us. I felt a little qualmish 
— we were now actually out at prairie ; I cannot dis- 
cover any greater impropriety in saying out at prairie, 
than there is, out at sea. Those who have never been 
out at prairie, of course, will call it an absurd conceit, 
this. But travel, gentlemen, travel — take a trip to the 
Eocky Mountains, now^ at once^ for the sublimity of 
solitude will soon be gone ! Leave old ocean till 
another time — he will wait for you; they can't '^pre- 
empt" him ; there is no corn to be raised in his foam. 
We passed Charley Hart's, at Hickory Point ; we 
shall visit Charley as we return. AVe drove on until 
we came to the crossing of the Grasshopper — ^here we 
purposed stopping all night. " Dyer's trading post" 
was here. The Indians went down to the creek, and 
camped. Our horses were put out, and a supper was 
got ready for us at Dj^cr's. It was a second^ but smaller 
edition to that at Leavenworth City. The house was 
a very dilapidated old log. There were several apol- 
ogies for beds, in the common room ; bed-fellows of 



80 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

the '' genus liomo," were not quite so numorous as they 
had been at Leavenworth ; but we had plenty of com- 
pany, in the shape of httle customers which love to go 
in advance of, and with, civilization (if I am not mis- 
taken, they browse upon man in his savage state), 
they are thieves — they know well that they are unwel- 
come visitors ; they come at night, when all is hushed 
^ave the snoring of some wearied hind, and insert their 
probosces into the tender " leathern bottles," and revel 
in the claret! but when chanticleer proclaims the 
morning's dawn, they dance off to the sound of his 
music, and pray for the cracks and the crevices, to hide 
them from the wrath of the bipeds ! 

We were ready for the resumption of our journey 
before daylight. We started, and when we reached 
the Creek we found the Indians all ready. The whips 
were applied to the horses, and we were off at full 
speed. We were soon out at prairie again. We 
reached Soldier Creek about noon ; took out the remains 
of our barley loaf, procured some water from the Creek, 
and took a lunch. We gave the horses some water, and 
started again. As we were driving through the woods 
in the creek bottom land, I discovered a number of 
Indians, |)erhaps thirty or forty, of all ages and sexes, 
camping. They really looked wild to me. We did 
not hear them say a word. It is surprising how un- 
social the Indians are, unless they should have their 
tongues loosened with* whiskey. It was their silence 
which overawed me. When we had passed them, I 
could not help looking back through the glass in the 
back of our carriage. Just simply to hear myself 



RATHER QUEER. 81 

talk, said I, "Doctor, two of tliosc fellows are coming 
after us !" Tlie Doctor felt for his pistol, a revolver, 
and looked out at tlie side of the carriage, — of course 
Ave both laughed that it was not so. We drove along 
and crossed " Cross Creek," and soon came in sight of 
the "Kaw Indian village," away seven miles distant, 
on an elevated bluff of the Kansas river. We drove 
along on the Kansas river bottom through the country 
of the Pottawatamies, until we came to McMeaken's 
trading post — here we v/ere met by a half-breed mes- 
senger from Bulboni's, on horseback. He rode up to 
the wagon in which our two guides were, and after 
speaking but a few words, one of the Indians got out 
of the wagon and mounted the horse on which the 
messenger had come, and having turned his head, rode 
directly back the way which we had come. I was very 
much surprised at the alacrity wdth which he went on 
some errand away back several miles, for he had to go 
several miles to get anywhere! This was singular, 
when one considers that these Indians had been travel- 
ling at least five days, and camping out five nights ! 
But there is nothing like getting used to it. The mes- 
senger jumped into the wagon, and on we went. In 
an hour or so we were at Bulboni's. The house is situated 
about a half mile from the bank of the Kansas. It 
is a large log house, built in the form of a cross. 
When we had entered, we discovered that it looked 
as if it had once been used for a Koman Catholic 
Church; but we think not. There were three rooms, 
or apartments. The arms of the cross, as it were, were 
partitioned off from the main apartment. To speak 
4* 



82 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

ccclesiastico-arcliitecturally, tlie transepts were railed 
off from the nave. These transepts formed chambers, 
and the nave was used for '' everything in particular." 
Bulboni had been a nabob among the Pottawatamies, 
but he was now dead. The inmates of the house now 
consisted of the widow Bulboni, two grown-np male Bul- 
bonis, and two full-grown female Bulbonis, a young Miss 
Bulboni, and a being Avhich I must turn over to 
Agassiz, — it had female clothes on — it had recZ, curly 
hair, negro nose and lips, Indian high cheek bones, and 
a complexion of the mulatto order. If it must have 
a name and a habitation, Avhy let us try it, — Africo- 
Indo-Franko- Americano-Pottawattamie ! If the natural- 
ists wish an abbreviation, why, they ma}^ send for it, 
and put it in the Museum ! I have described the 
animal for them, and I have no doubt but that it is in 
the same Avoods still ; they use it at Bulboni's in the 
capacity of a slave, and of course it is for sale^ no 
matter loliose blood, or of what nation, courses through 
its veins ! Did I not say well, that Mr. Pickwick 
would have had " hoccupation" on this journey ? 

The Bulbonis could talk English, but they would 
not. So we had to converse by our interpreter. The 
Doctor had to gather an account of all the symptoms 
of the sick girl, through this channel. How absurd ! 
The Miss Bulboni was sitting some distance from her 
sister; the doctor asked the being above described, when 
Miss Bulboni Avas going to be married? They all 
burst out a laughing — this was an interesting point. 

" Now," said the Doctor, "I wish you to talk Eng- 
lish to me ; this, your daughter, and your sister, cannot 



CITARLEY hart's. S3 

live long, unless there is something done for lier very 
soon." 

They Avere all endowed with the gift of the Eng- 
lish tongue as if by miracle. The Doctor left very 
lengthy directions, and told the young men to come 
into Weston .in a week, or ten days, and tell him how 
she then might be. We remained all night at Bul- 
boni's. We left for home quite early the next morn- 
ing. I will here state that the girl lingered for a month 
longer, and then died. 

On the first day's travel towards home, we made 
Charley Hart's, at Hickory Point. Charley was, and 
is, a character. Charley had, with much forethought, 
located himself at Hickory Point. If a carriage should 
start from Kickapoo, Leavenworth City, or Fort Leav- 
enworth, the probabilities would be, that it would reach 
Charley's just about supper-time; and Charley, who 
was a Boniface of the good old stamp, would undoubt- 
edly step out and open the carriage -door, order the 
trunks off, and the horses driven round, not now to the 
ham, but to the place ivhere the barn is to be. But, if 
a train of wagons should be started from Fort Leaven- 
worth, heavily laden, going into the interior, why, then, 
Charley would be out and give them a welcome on the 
second evening. The first night, they would have 
stopped at Dawson's. Dr. Bonnifant now introduced 
me to Charley. I had heard of Charley at Weston, 
when he lived there ; but, he not being in society^ I 
never had the honor of his acquaintance. My con- 
science smote me for not having sought Charley out ; 
for he now confessed that he was earlv educated in the 



84 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

Episcopal Churcli-— lie hoped that I would come out 
about Christmas, and preach for them ! I asked him 
who " them" were ? " Oh," said Charley, '' we are al- 
ways full, here." " Ha, ha, Charley, you wish me to 
come out fifty miles to preach, and fetch my congrega- 
tion along with me." Charley shook his sides, and 
jocularly inquired if I was not from "away down 
East ?" I rephed, that " New Yorkers" never acknowl- 
edged to the name ^^Yanhee^ I was obhged to be 
very cautious, lest an exciting discussion should be 
started on " gooseology." The name, "Yankee," gen- 
erally took the spigot out of the barrel, and blood 
would often flow. I am rather of a spare habit. I 
never had to endure depletion. I had contracted a 
habit of sparing my remarks on the "goose," lest they 
should bleed me without taking a nice estimate of the 
weight or measure. I have often passed muster by sneer- 
ing at a Yankee, just as I used heartily to do when a 
boy in Kew York. Perhaps some of my readers may 
not be aware that, in Missouri, they call all Northern 
men, Yankees ; while the New Yorkers class only those 
who are from the New England States, as Yankees. You 
will at once, therefore, perceive how I could preserve 
both my conscience and my head, by sneering occasion- 
ally at the mention of the term. The company which 
I would be in then, ivould conclude (/ could not help 
it) that I was sound on the "goose," and they would 
give me the "liberty of the city," whether the city was 
built, or only in contemplation^ as was generally the 
case in Kansas. 

But let us get into Charley's hospitable log-cabin. 



COMFORT EXTEMPOllISED. 85 

He began making apologies from the moment that we 
started for the door. He had concluded that I was not 
a " stingy Yankee," and would, therefore, expect him 
to have a good fire and a good supper. When we had 
got into the little seven-bj^-nine reception room, there 
was a stove about the size of a "Pearl-Starch Box," 
with a pipe made out of the odds and ends of all pipes ; 
there was a length of four-inch pipe, new — this fitted 
the stove ; then, the next length was old, and a five- 
inch pipe ; the next was old, too, and a six-inch pipe ; 
these were kept from collapsing by cloths stuffed in 
tightly where the joints came together; otherwise they 
would all have shut up togetlier, like the different 
lengths in a spy-glass, when it has been well worn. 
The stove itself was set up on two tiers of bricks, so as 
to elevate the whole sufficiently to permit the last 
length of the pipe to go up through a hole cut in the 
side of the roof, designed hereafter to allow of a chim- 
ney. The whole contrivance had evidently been ex- 
temporised for our benefit ; therefore, Charley deserved 
nothing but blessing. I don't know how the Doctor 
felt — he said nothing; but my own feelings were all 
in Charley's favor. 

I saw that Charley had set his heart upon having 
Hickory Point made a city. He took me out to show 
me a discovery which he had made, and pointed to a 
stratum of slate, which indicated coal formation. He 
pointed out further a beautiful knoll, on which a church 
would look quite picturesque. This he Avould be gener- 
ous enough to give for such a purpose ! Charley would 
have me believe that his heart was in the right place, 



SQ THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

bj tliis display of generosity. Poor Charley thought 
that I Avas as simple as I looked ; he did not for a mo- 
ment think that I was aware that I might put a church 
on ever}^ hill-top for fifty miles round, if I had the 
means merely to get the logs drawm. He professed, 
more and more, his sincere love for " my Church" (he 
hsid forgotten the word Episcopal). 

When I got back to Weston, I told the people of 
Charley's generosit}^ I there learned that wdienever 
Charley went anyw^here to meeting, it w^as to the 
Campbellite Baptist; still, for the encouragement of 
any enthusiastic missionary, I will say that, if he wall 
go and establish a church there, build it himself, board 
and clothe himself, and preach every Sunday, there is 
every hope that Charley will be a follower — ^he will 
commit himself to your course of policy and w^ay of 
thinking, from the very first day ; perhaps you had 
better wait until he proposes a place on his claim for 
the church ; if you are too eager to go there, he may 
charge you a trifle for the land. Have a little worldly 
wdsdom ; like Jacob Faithful, " keep cool." 

After supper, which w^as decidedly the most inviting 
meal w^hich had been set before us since we left Wes- 
ton, Charley, the Doctor, and one or two others, to- 
gether wdth myself, returned to the seven-by-nine 
reception room. Here Charley entertained us by a 
relation of incidents connected wdth the battles in 
Mexico, under Taylor. Charley had been the " Gen- 
eral's orderly^ They say that no man is a hero in the 
estimation of his valet de chamhre — ^but I must say that 
Old Rough and Ready could bear close inspection, if 



GOOD PHILOSOPHY. 87 

Charley Hart can be trusted. Palo Alto and Eesaca 
de la Palma Avere mono-dramaticized, to my infinite 
amusement, in that little seven-by-nine reception 
room, at Hickory Point, K. T. Charley — 

" Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won." 

Charley said that he would go outside and show 
it off; but there being no high hills to represent 
''Palo Alto," he could do just as well in the cabin. 
We told Charley not to go out into the cold ; that we 
would rather stretch our imaginations inside of the 
cabin, than our limbs outside, particularly as it was 
dark ; and we would have to follow him closely, to be 
able to gain any idea of the action of that famous bat- 
tle ! There was one point in Charley's narrative which 
I am well satisfied belongs to the secret history of those 
stirring times. He told us that General La Vega, I 
think this was the name, I cannot lay my hand on the 
documents^ Avas captured and disarmed by a private in 
the American army, — that the private was rewarded 
by being placed under arrest for his bravery ! Charley 
concluded, "that as long as such was the rule of the 
service^ that humble men had better seek glory in the 
volunteer ranks, under such men as Doniphan." He 
believed that it Avas a natural instinct, confined to no 
condition, that Avhen the rewards and promotions Avere 
about to be made, for every man to come forward and 
claim his due. As, for instance, Avhen the Duke of Wel- 
lington, after one of his great victories, was bestoAv- 
ing promotions with no sparing hand, the servant of 



88 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

Charles O'Malley, Mickey Free, put in his claim. "Ah, 
Masther Charley, if it \7as but a gauger." 

It had now got to be nine o'clock, in Charley Hart's 
cabin. I observed an interesting glance or two pass 
between Charley and the Doctor. I did not at once 
understand what it meant. But after a few minutes, 
Charley came and whispered to me. " We have but 
few comforts here yet in the line of beds and bed- 
ding." " ISTow," continued he, "T want you to be 
made as comfortable as possible^ before any of the others 
go to bed." I took the hint at once, and retired with 
Charley. He showed me into another room in the log^ 
teii-by-twelve, perhaps. I prepared to retire, while 
Charley stood over me talking in a very pious strain. 
I got into the bed, and Charley laid seven or eight 
heavy blankets over me, and tucked them in round the 
edges. " This," he observed, " was necessary;" saying, 
"It is going to be a cold night," and pointed to the 
many unchinked holes around the room. I thanked 
him very much for his kindness, when he retired, I 
heard a chuckle in the other room, when Charley re- 
entered it, In about fifteen minutes afterward I heard 
a queer noise in the seven-by-nine. "Click," "click," 
"click," "click," "click," "click," "click." "Thump," 
"thump," (loud,) "thump," (louder,) "thump," (loud- 
est,) and " ha ! ha ! ha I" " Chink," " chink," " chink,'' 
went the halves and quarters, making change ! Char- 
ley's anxiety for my comfort in bed was explained ! 
He remembered the Doctor's penchant for card-playing 
at Weston, and he thought that he would play a game 
in diplomacy with me. I was wheedled into retirement I 



•0 



PIOUS TO THE LAST. 89 

I think that if President Pierce had had Charley at his 
elbow when he had tlie removal of Reeder under con- 
sideration, he would have succeeded much more 
smoothly ! However this might have been, I was re- 
minded forcibly of the truth that "the children of this 
world are, in their generation, wiser than the children 
of light." 

I had got to sleep, when I was awakened by what I 
supposed to be the sound of many waters, dripping in 
through the roof. I listened for a moment and then 
opened mine eyes. I observed a light in the room. I 
shifted in the bed, and the gurgling sound ceased at 
once ! Charley softly made for the door, Avith a tin 
measure of about a quart in size, in his hand; and the 
odor which he left behind him was as if it had been 
"Bourbon," such as Davy Atchison would have rel- 
ished ! I got to sleep again, and slept until morning. 
When I rose to dress myself, I lifted a cloth, which 
hung gracefully over a barrel in the corner of the room, 
and I discovered, marked on the end of the barrel, 
"Rectified Whiskey." The mysteries of the night 
were opened. 

Every time that I passed Charley, in the morning, 
until the moment of departure, he was just as piously 
inclined as he had been on the night previous. He 
was ignorant altogether of my discoveries. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHARLEY HART GETS THE UNANIMOUS VOTE OF HIS 
DISTRICT AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE LEGISLATURE, 
YET FAILS OF AN ELECTION. 

After what I have said of Charley in a former 
chapter, the reader will at once perceive that he had 
every requisite to gain popularity. One word with 
reference to the district itself. Charley's log was the 
only house within twenty miles, in any direction ; 
consequently Charley was popular, he had no com- 
petitors. My visit to Charley's was made some months 
before the election, it is true ; but the severe winter in- 
tervened, and therefore vre may well judge that no 
great settlement had been made so far in the interior 
during that season. I must draw upon my knowledge 
of the previous circumstances to justify my remarks in 
this chajDter. The place of holding the election had been 
appointed b}^ Governor Reeder at Charley's house, be- 
cause he could not have appointed it elsewhere ! There 
were four or five white men staying at Charley's when 
I was there ; one or two of these were serfs, Charley 
being the feudal lord of the domain. A convention 
to put a man in nomination for the Legislature was of 
course called by the hangers-on of Charley, ^. e., the 
hangers-on addressed themselves, and said : " Let us 
meet in mass convention and nominate a man faithfii] 

[90] 



HICKORY POINT. 91 

and true to our interests^ to represent us in the Legisla- 
tive Halls of our Territory." 

Five persons attended this mass meeting. Charley 
Hart, Esq., was called to the Chair. On motion, the 
appointment of Secretary was sought to be disj)ensed 
with, lest there should be no speakers! This motion 
was decided out of order by the Chairman. He said : 
" That a day might come when a record of that day's 
proceedings would be sought for as historical data. 
I may be mistaken, gentlemen," continued he, "but 
my hopes are sanguine, that we are standing on ground 
hereafter to become the seat of a mighty empire ! It 
is true that this is an interior point, but railroads, I 
heard a fellow once say, would have the tendency to 
build up cities in the interior of a country, as in former 
times caravans had done. 

"He said a great deal about Egypt and Asia Minor, 
and such countries, and I became a convert to his 
opinion. I think that Hickory Point is to have a 
glorious future ; and since you have done me the honor 
to appoint me the Chairman of the first meeting of a 
public character, I would like to have a record kept of 
the proceedings. The name of Charley Hart, in such 
a case, Avould go down to posterity with honor." 

Here Charley showed symptoms of tears. The gen- 
tleman who made the motion Avithdrew it: "He ex- 
pressed the hope that he would not be appointed Sec- 
retary — he had private reasons why he did not wish 
the honor." 

The rest of the gentlemen present also declined 
being Secretary. 



92 THREE YEARS ON TH"E EIANSAS BORDER. 

"Gentlemen," said Charley, "I tMnk I can guess 
wlij yon all decline this honor. Jerry," said Charley, 
"just go into the kitchen and ask Aunt Esther to come 
out here; she is a 'free nigger,' and was taught to write 
a little by an Abolition preacher over in Weston ; we 
can make use of her, while one of you can have his 
name signed to the proceedings." 

The gentlemen said, "that the suggestion of their 
worthy Chairman was a good one, but hoped that Aunt 
Esther would be made to sit outside of the room by 
the windoAV, as they could not place themselves on a 
level with negroes." 

There was no objection to this arrangement. Aunt 
Esther was called, and told to go outside the window, 
and act as Secretary to the meeeting. 

"Act as what ?" said Aunt Esther. 

The more intelligent ones laughed at this question. 

"I'll show you," said Charley. He went now in 
search of a sheet of paper, which had been forgotten, 
and returned with what appeared to be a fly-leaf 
taken out of some book which he had in his trunk. 
Pen and ink were now inquired for. Aunt Esther had 
to go and get her's. She returned, and was told "that 
what they wanted her to do was to set down whatever 
they should say or do." "In the first place," said 
Charley, " set down, that at a meeting of the Squatter 
Sovereigns of Hickory Point, K. T., held on, — Jerry, 
what day of the month is this ?" 

Jerry did not know, " he had not kept any count." 
They all tried now to recall circumstance after circum- 
stance, likely to fix the day of the month, but in vain. 



NOMINATION NOT ELECTION. 93 

" Well," said Charley, " never mind, tliere will be a 
train ont from the Fort to day or to-morrow, I have 

no doubt, then we shall learn." '' Held on , 

Charles Hart, Esq., was appointed Chairman, and 
Jerry Walker, Secretary." 

Here Aunt Esther said that ^' she thought that she 
had been appointed that!''' 

"Ko," said Charley, "you merely do the writ- 
ing." 

The meeting now being duly organized, the Chair- 
man stated the object of it, which was " to place in 
nomination a candidate for the Legislature." The cir- 
cular from the Governor was here read, which marked 
out the boundaries of the districts, and the places of 
holding the election in each. Charles Hart, Esq., 
Chairman, Avent on to say, that "great discretion was 
to be used in selecting a candidate for so important a 
post ; he hoped that their own interests and the inter- 
est of Hickory Point would be the only considerations 
which would be allowed to weigh with them." 

Timothy Spoon er obtained the floor after the Chair- 
man had taken his seat. Tim went on to say, " For 
my part, my own good, and the good of Hickory 
Point, I go for the election of CharZess Hart, Esquire." 
(Great cheering, in which Aunt Esther joined.) 

The Chairman here rose to correct the Hon. gentle- 
man: " The election was not now being held, that it 
was a nomination, as they call it ; that is to say, putting 
a person forward to be elected when the time comes." 

"Well," said Tim, " that is what I mean.) 

The Chairman wxnt on to remark further, "that from 



94 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

present appearances, the nomination of a candidate -will 
be just the same as an election." 

"Yeiy well, then," remarked Tim, ''I don't see 
where I was wrong." 

" In order to make the thing right," said the Chair- 
man, " it will be necessary that the motion of the 
honorable gentleman, Timothy Spooner, be seconded." 

Jerry here spoke, and said, "that if there Avas any- 
thing wanting that he could do, he would do it ; but 
he would like to know who was going to have charge 
of the house while Charley w^as gone to the Legis- 
lature." 

Charley's sagacity here su.ggested to him that the 
discussion of this question would be the springing of 
a mine that would blow his ambitious aspirations sky- 
high, if he were not exceedingly careful. 

" Does the honorable gentleman insist uj)on an answer 
to his question to-day ?" said the Chairman. 

" K the nomination is just the same as an election," 
said Jerry, "I do." 

" Then," said the Chairman, " I intend that while I. 
am gone to the Legislature, you shall all take care of 
each other, and the house shall be at your service !" 
(Great cheering.) 

Jerry now said, " then just make the thing to suit 
yourselves." 

The Chairman rose to put the question. "It is 
moved by the Honorable Timothy Spooner, and 
seconded by Jerry — Jerry what is your other name, I 
have forgotten it?" 

"Walker," said Jerry. 



MOEE HONORS AKTICIPATED. 95 

''And seconded by Jerry Wallver, that Charles Hart, 
Esq., be, and hereby is, the nnaniinons choice of the 
Squatter Sovereigns of Hickory Point, to represent 
them in the Legislature of Kansas. All those in favor 
of this motion say aye," — this sign was given unani- 
mously. 

Aunt Esther here remarked, "that she could not take 
it down just as it was said." 

This observation has been made by more than one 
Secretary before Aunt Esther; it shows the importance 
of putting resolutions in ivriimg. 

The Chairman said " that he would attend to the 
wording of the resolution afterwards." He rose now 
to return thanks for the unexpected honor which had 
been conferred upon him : " Gentlemen, I thank you 
from the bottom of my heart. I am well satisfied that 
if the district were more thickly settled, that you would 
have had a larger number to choose from, but I think that 
you would not have found one more disposed to carry 
out measures which will be for your interest. I regard 
my election as certain ; therefore I will here state what 
I think will be much to our interest. The alteration 
of the Delaware Treaty is of the first importance ; it 
is true that Tom Benton says, ' that we are here on 
the Military outlet f but perhaps you may know, as 
w^ell as I do, that old General Jackson is no more, and 
that Col. Benton is now left nowhere. It may be that 
the Legislature will appoint a Committee to go to 
Washington to see about the alteration of this treaty, 
and if such should be the Avill of that Honorable body, 
I think that I will stand a good chance of being select- 



96 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

ed, in consequence of my personal acquaintance with. 
General Pierce in Mexico." 

Timothy Spooner said, "that their interests were 
safe in the hands of their chosen standard-bearer !" 

Aunt Esther was here told to go and put on the 
kettle for the whiskey punches. 

We can well imagine how slowly the weeks passed 
which intervened between the time of this important 
event in the history of the feudal lord of Hickory Point, 
and the day of election; they must have appeared 
months at least, in the calendar of Charley Hart. But 
his anxiety was, after all, the blissful dream. It is only 
the pursuit of an object which seems to please. 

Charley Hart had been on the field of battle ; he 
had conversed with Generals of division^ and Generals 
in chief command, as a man talketh with his neighbor; 
but yet all this did not satisfy his ambition — another 
theatre now appeared to present itself : 

" Let arms revere the robe, 
The warrior's laurel yield 
To the palm of Eloquence." 

Bright was the future for mine host of Hickory 
Point ; all things glittered, and everything which glit- 
tered was gold. Jerry Walker and Timothy Spooner, 
several times before the day of election, took instal- 
ments on the promise which Charley had given, namely, 
' that while he was gone they should take care of each 
other, and the house should be at their service." It is 
true that they gave too loose a construction to this 
promise; Charley had said, "that the good time of 



THE COMMON LAW. 97 

guardianship to each other, and the freedom of appro- 
priating the good things Avhich might be at the Hickory 
Point Head inn to themselves without money and 
without price, and without work, would come when he 
had de|)arted for the attendance on the Legislature at 
Pawnee;" but he was too shrewd a man not to per- 
ceive the imminent hazard in which he would phice his 
affairs if he should insist on a " strict construction" — 
he wisely, therefore, resolved to stoop to conquer. 

Jerry, often, with perfect nonchalance, took down the 
box of the best cigars which the cabin afforded, and 
helped himself and his particular friend Tim ; not in- 
frequently would Tim pay a friendly visit to the barrel 
of "Kectified." Such services as these they were as 
much too ready to perform, as they were remiss to give 
the welcome to the stranger, for whose sake Charley 
had exiled himself to Hickory Point. The reputation 
of the house suffered severely during the month pre- 
vious to the election ; it may be that the disaster ex- 
tended itself, and had its effect in the final result. Aunt 
Esther was the only one who remained faithful to the 
interest and service of her master ; though she was 
free, she did not abuse her freedom. Charley may 
have thanked that "Common Law" of the Anglo-Saxon 
race — indeed, we may say, of the race of Adam (with 
the exception of a few Bloomers) — which does not 
permit the right of suffrage to a woman, less a hlach 
woman, much less a free black woman ! — the masters 
take the liberty to vote for the interests (?) of the slave 
black woman, in some parts of our consistent confeder- 
acy ; but our Blackstone, when he comes to set forth 
5 



98 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

the riglits of man, must make some exceptions in be- 
half of model Eepnblicans ! Charley Hart was grate- 
ful to the genius of our institutions, that Aunt Esther 
enjoyed not the elective franchise ; for, had she possessed 
this boon, she might have become as useless as those 
who AYOuld not allow themselves to be placed on a level 
with free negroes ; and the efforts of the master of Hick- 
ory Point, in behalf of the travelling public, would have 
become paralyzed. But, of course, the candidate for 
the highest ofiice in the gift of the "squatter sovereigns" 
of Hickory Point, was too good a politician to permit 
his brow to wrinkle, his eye to glance wrath, his tongue 
to speak reproach, his hand to administer cuffs, or his 
foot to give stern rebukes. In truth, Charley's con- 
stituency was a "free constituency." It is a remarka- 
ble fact that the nearer we descend to the common 
level among men, the better do we get to realize the 
true import of phrases. " The people" from whom we 
spring, call things by their right names, and enjoy the 
things to which the right names are given. It was well 
known to those hangers-on of Charley's, that power 
emanated from the people. They also knew, however 
much they pretended ignorance, " that nomination for 
ofl&ce was not the same as election thereto;" but a small 
portion of the power, therefore, had as yet departed 
from them, and they fully determined that indemnifi- 
cation should take place ere they they should be shorn, 
and, like Samson, become as other men. They made 
a loud cry for the "collaterals," in the shape of cigars, 
whiskey, freedom from chopping fire-wood, driving 
home the cows, and milking them. Charley's strength 



SUSPICIOUS IMMIGEATIOISr. 99 

was to sit still, and quietly submit to his masters. But 
compensation is the law of nature, and to this law Char- 
ley now submitted himself; and what he could not 
withhold, in the form of cigars and whiskey, without 
bringing ruin in its train, he determined, like many 
others, to make a virtue of necessity, and " gave him- 
self the pleasure^'' to present the cigars and whiskey, as 
frequently as the recipients thought they were need- 
ful ! 

The day for the election was now near. Prairie 
chickens and partridges were procured for the dinner ; 
a luxury which they had often enjoyed before — but no 
rarer could be obtained. 

On the day previous to the election, towards even- 
ing, a company of fifty or sixty men on horseback, 
having each shot guns, or other arms, camped near 
Hickor}^ Point. The proprietor of the Point fancied 
that they were a party of hunters, on an expedition. 
There was nothing about their appearance which indi- 
cated that they were immigrants ; they had no wagons 
with farming utensils, no oxen or cows. Charley's mind 
was set at rest. " They would all leave in the morn- 
ing." Morning came, and there was promise of a quiet 
election day. The strangers did not seem to be making 
any preparations for leaving, as hunters might be ex- 
pected to do. Mine host went out to greet them. He 
discovered that the good report of Hickory Point had 
travelled further than he could have hoped for — the 
party was an immigrant party ! looking out for a loca- 
tion ; and they were more than pleased with Hickory 
Point ! " They were determined to locate there, and, 



100 THREE YEARS ON THE. KATs-SAS BORDER. 

Oil the morrow, the great majority of them would re- 
turn, for their wives and children, and stock. Under- 
standing that the election was to be lield there that day, 
tliey had come out, to give a direction to the future 
destinies of Hickory Point and Kansas Territory." 
Charley Hart was amazed. It was a most singular turn 
which, now seemed to present itself in his affairs. If 
they were true men, of course they would respect his 
claims, and, particularly, the nomination made by the 
squatters, in mass convention, at Hickory Point. That 
things might be brought to a happy conclusion, he 
thought that a little spiritual influence should be used ; 
lie invited the party up to the "log," to taste his 
" Bourbon." It was acknowledged, with many an oath, 
to be the genuine article. The merits of St. Louis, 
Cincinnati, and Bourbon County, Kentucky, whiskey, 
were discussed, con amove — and the more they tasted 
of that quality Avhich they enjoyed on the present 
occasion, the more animated they became, in the praises 
of those "brands" which they did not possess. One 
of them here ventured to remark, with a tremendous 

oath, that "he supposed that those Yankees would 

be for introducing a 'Maine Law' into the Legislature." 
Charley here remarked, " that, on this head, he would 
use his influence against that most unconstitutional 
law, in the halls of the Legislature. Several here in- 
quired, if Charley " expected to go to the Legislature?" 
He replied, that he had been expecting nothing else 
for the last month, and that the affairs of his house had 
been conducted exclusively on such a supposition ! He 
ventured to hope " that, if they were about to cast their 



SOME QUAKERS DO SWEAR. 101 

lot ill with them at Hickory Point, that their vote 
would help to place him in a position for which he 
thought himself in some degree qualified." It w^as an- 
swered to this, that " Mr. Hart w^as a stranger to them, 
and, as the general practice was For the majority to de- 
cide, it would have to be submitted to that issue !" The 
blood of Charley's system fled to his heart, for refuge. 

There was now but one way in which this election 
could be decided in his favor, and that was by a rigid 
administration of the oath provided by Gov. Reeder, 
to qualify for exercising the franchise in doubtful 
cases. 

"Of course," said Charley, "gentlemen, you will 
have no objection to take the oath prescribed by the 
Governor?" 

" Not in the least — did it accord with their principles; 
but, in their case, it would interfere with their privilege 
— they were Quakers !" 

" Why," said Charley, " I thought that the Quakers 
swore not at all ?" 

" 0, bless you, the Hicksites can swear on all occa- 
sions, except useful ones — we are Hicksites !" 

They stood on their "privileged question," and 
Charley, though he got all the legal votes in his dis- 
trict, yet failed of an election ! 



CHAPTER XYII. 

A MACEDONIAN" CEY WHEN LIBERALLY CONSTRUED. 

My readers, I hope, will bear in mind that our 
pioneer Clergy are not as numerous as those of the 
different denominations in the country. The laity, 
who are scattered abroad in the different j^arts of our 
new settlements, repeatedly deplore their want of privi- 
leges which are enjoyed by their " more favored 
brethren." The sight of an Episcopal clergyman is 
regarded by them as a. harbinger of the advance of 
civilization, as decided as the flight of the birds to the 
northward, is an indication of the return of Spring. 

When I left father and mother, and an Eastern 
home, and rejected proffered parishes in the most 
pleasant, and in Summer, the most fashionaUe^ of 
neighborhoods, to take an invalid wife, and a sweet 
child, whose eyes were to be closed in death on the 
journey, and go to preach the Gospel of the grace 
of God to the people on the extreme border of civili- 
zation, then I felt that I had every reason to say, in 
some measure, at least, with the Apostle, " And I 
know that when I come unto you, I shall come in the 
fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ." 

I had reason to hope that a communicant, who had 
two brothers in the Ministry of the Church — that an- 
other communicant, to whom I had first administered 

[102] 



PLANS THWARTED. 103 

the sacred emblems of the broken body and the shed 
blood of the Son of God, would receive me, comfort 
me, and hold up my feeble hands, while God made me 
the humble instrument to bring salvation to the many 
whom they knew to be there "in the gall of bitterness 
and in the" bonds of iniquity !" If there had been other 
communicants in that my field of labor, " Fort Leaven- 
worth and parts adjacent/' Avith whom I had had the 
shghtest acquaintance, then I would not have felt so 
much discouraged ; but there was not a male commu- 
nicant save these two in all my field of labor, to my 
knoioledge. 

But I did not only suffer neglect from these gentle- 
men ; I was secretly and openly opposed by them ; 
my good efforts were thwarted ; the advances which I 
had made towards the completion of cherished plans 
for "Church extension," were suddenly stayed by 
these emissaries, whom I cannot call " of God." 

One of these communicants called me into his of&ce, 
one day, in Weston, Mo. Said he to me, ' I am now 
about removing into the Territory, and 1 would like 
to know Avhat course you are about to pursue in the 
contest which we know must come ?" This was an 
astounding question. It suggested everything which I 
could wish to have said in my favor ! It most con- 
clusively proved that he had never heard me in any 
speech or discourse indicate ivhich course I ivas about to 
pursue in the affairs of the Territory ! Oh, fortunate 
and unfortunate question! Fortunate for me, un- 
fortunate for my enemies. Come, gentlemen, I chal- 
lenge you for the proof that I ever made a speech or 



104 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

ever delivered a discourse against tlie institution of 
Slavery ! Mark me, I do not make tkis challenge as 
an apology to you or to others. I give not up one 
tittle of my private hatred of the Institution — neither 
do I promise that from henceforth I shall be as silent 
as I have been in times gone by — no, mine enemies, you 
have by your persecutions and by your shedding of in- 
nocent blood, imbued my heart with as intense a hatred 
of Slavery as ever Hannibal felt towards the Eomans ! 

But I must answer the question of my worthy com- 
municant. Said I, " Sir, my influence, in a becoming 
manner, shall be used to make Kansas a Free State. 
I am to reside therein. I love Freedom, and Free 
Institutions." " Well," said he, " I think that you 
ought to be altogether passive in the matter." He 
quoted a text: " Eender unto Csesar the things Avhich 
are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's.'' 
I gave him, in reply, a very summary interpretation of 
the text. Said I, " If I shall be fortunate enough to 
acquire any property over in Kansas, I trust that I 
shall be able and willing to pay my taxes." The gen- 
tleman rose, and the audience was over. 

The other communicant was an officer in the Army 
of the United States. He was interested in Leaven- 
worth City, a point which I considered within my 
mission, but for a reason to be noted, I did not 
make anxious efforts to obtain a site for a church.* 
The United States Army officer was asked, as I am 
informed by the petitioner himself, for a contribution 
towards the erection of a house of worship for a re 

* This property belongs to the Delaware Indians. 



INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN. 105 

Bpectable denomination of Christians, at Leavenworth 
Citj. The officer dechned, and gave his reasons, which 
were, "that the Episcopal church wonld make as large 
demands npon him as he could well meet." " It was 
then in contemplation to erect an Episcopal church at 
Leavenv/orth City. That he had offered two lots 
in the city to the ' Domestic Committee ' in New 
York, with the promise also of five hundred dollars 
more, provided the Committee would furnish fifteen 

hundred dollars." ''Is Mr. " (naming the writer) 

"to be the Minister?" "No, sir," in the most de- 
cided manner, answered the army officer. 

I repeated these facts to the Eev. Mr. Irish, of St. 
Joseph. Mr.> I. acknowledged to me that such were 
the plans! I made complaint to my Bishop at once. 
I have good reasons to believe that my Bishop repre- 
sented my complaint to the proper quarter, but of this 
I cannot be sure ; at any rate, the Eev. Mr. Irish Avas 
instructed by his Bishop to confine his labors and in- 
terest solely to his own field of labor in Missouri. I 
have the best of authority for this, the declaration of 
Mr. I. himself, and the notoriety of the circumstance 
at St. Joseph, Missouri. 

Now I continued to officiate at Kickapoo, neither 
of my male communicants ever attended service there ; 
I officiated at Leavenworth, neither of them attended 
there. I asked a lawyer, who now resided in Leaven- 
worth, but who had once been a vestryman of mine in 
Weston, if he would not let me have his Law office to 
officiate in ? " He dare not do so !" He talked for 
the "goose," but I could read him pretty well. I 



106 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

knew that lie was not sound on tlie animal ; and my 
prognostications have proved correct; lie has since 
been elected by the Free State party Attorney-Gen- 
eral ? The subscription for a church at Kickapoo was 
abandoned. I wonder if there had been any tamper- 
ing in that quarter? I am sure of it ! 

Where did these '' High churchmen" attend service 
on Sunday ? Did they have a chaplain of the Episco- 
pal church at Fort Leavenworth ? No, thank Grod, 
the church has been saved that disgrace ! My blood 
boiled within my veins, when I saw it once published 
in a Chicago journal, that the chaplain at Fort Leaven- 
worth belong-ed to the Episcopal church. It is not 
true. Eeader, what would you think of it, if I were 
to tell you that I was the only clergyman of the Epis- 
copal church in Kansas Territory, save the chaplain at 
Fort Riley, an honor to his profession, and that these, 
my communicants, never attended my services — never 
attended the services of him whom they believed was 
alone ordained of God, as was Aaron, to minister in 
Holy things? Would you not say that "the come 
over and help us " of these gentlemen and others, was 
" A Macedonian cry when liherally construed?" 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

LAW AND gospel; A YICE-PEESIDENT PREACHES A 
CRUSADE, AND AN OLD SCHOOL CHAPLAIN SELLS IN- 
DULGENCES. 

I PRESUME that tliere is hardly a people in any sec- 
tion of onr country, neither is there any community 
on the face of the earth, which might not be incited to 
exercise violence toward a weaker party, if the insti- 
gators should be the second in power in the nation, and 
his recommendations approved by a minister of the 
"Eeligion of Love!" provided the arguments which 
were used would go to show, that if the majority did 
not exercise this violence, their homes and their insti- 
tutions would be laid prostrate in the dust I If such 
a course would be pursued, I say, in our most staid, 
and enlightened, and law-loving sections of our country, 
might we not reckon upon such a result with unerring 
certainty among the communities on our border ? 

A gentleman, occupying for many years the very 
high honor of representing in part, his entire State in 
the Senate of a great Eepublic, and there by a great 
majority of his fellow-senators from the different States, 
chosen to preside over their most important legislative 
debates, to sign the most important acts in the legis- 
lation of a ^^eat and free people, and thereby, ex officio, 

[107] 



108 THEEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BOHDEE. 

the second personage in the Republic, by and with 
whose advice, together with the body over which he 
presided, the Executive of the nation could neither 
turn to the right hand or to the left, takes the high re- 
sponsibility of inflaming the minds and passions of 
a highly-excitable body of people in his own State, 
and in his own county, to go, in open defiance of all 
law, and of all justice, and in opposition to the instincts 
of humanity, fallen and low as these are, into a neigh- 
boring Territory, and there abuse, and drive out, and 
if need be, destroy a people, the descendants emphati- 
cally of those who bled and died in securing the 
liberties of our country. Can we be at all astonished 
that the people thus urged did not stop short of blood- 
shed ? I state without the least fear of positive and con- 
vincing contradiction, that such was the drift of speeches 
delivered by the person above alluded to, and publish- 
ed, not in fidl, or from manuscript furnished, but from 
reporters' notes, in the "Platte Argus," published at 
Weston, Mo. 

Why should a man question his obvious duty, when 
advised by such an oracle? What remained to be 
done but armed organization ? And this was effected 
in all the counties of North- Western Mo., to my per- 
sonal knowledge. Stronger language was never used 
in the days of the Revolution, by the orators, when 
they incited rebellion against an odious tyranny, distant 
nearly four thousand miles from our shores, than was 
used by the servants of this Republic, and residents of 
a foreign State, to incite its inhabitants to bloodshed, 
and to the butchery of those who disagreed with them 



THE MODERN TETZEL. 109 

on a question, which has been nothing but a subject of 
dispute since the colonization of our country ! 

And if we add to all this, that one calling himself a 
minister of the Prince of Peace, and one employed by 
the Executive of the nation, and whose services in 
such work are paid by the hard earnings of our people, 
came forward, in person, by speech-making, by pam- 
phlet-printing, by doggerel verse-writing, and by Scrip- 
ture-quoting, and these passages of Scripture sent to 
that vile sheet, the "Platte Argus," and there printed, 
with a challenge for refutation prefixed, why then 
bloodshed as advised by lawyers, became piety when- 
advised by divines ! There was indulgence in " High 
Heaven" for such enormous iniquities ! The Court of 
Papal Eome, in her worst days, has been outdone by 
our Government, and a greater than Tetzel will be 
found among United States Chaplains, even in the 
middle of the nineteenth century! I did wonder 
whether the '' Congressional Committee" would dis- 
cover this pious parson ; I rejoice that they did. I 
hope that they had it proved, for it was very suscep- 
tible of proof, that this parson printed a pamphlet in 
favor of Slavery, attended a meeting of the famous 
" Self-Defensives," at Platte City, and there delivered a 
doggerel verse poem burlesqueing philanthropy, which 
was afterwards published in the " Platte Argus," and 
the mildest term which I can give of the drift of all 
was, "that the Free State settlers in Kansas Territory 
must be got rid ofP'' 

This pious soul is yet allowed to preach the Gospel, 
and to set a good example to the officers and soldiei^ 



110 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

at one of our military posts, in Kansas Territor}^, and 
to communicants of my own Clinrcli, who, if they had 
but said the word, might have enjoyed an occasional 
service from me, a minister whom they had every con- 
fidence in, until they learned I Avas not in favor of 
Slavery extension, and particularly opposed to the ex- 
tension of that institution into Territory which had 
been consecrated to Freedom, and in which I had hoped 
to do much good. 

These are facts. A Vice-President preached a cru- 
sade for the recovery from Freedom of a Territory of 
immense extent, to be devoted, Avhen wrested from the 
hands of lawful settlers, to Slavery forever ; and to 
the crusaders who should enrol themselves for this 
work a hope of gaining heaven was afforded, accord- 
ing to the construction of the act by common minds, 
and promise of Indulgence was given ! 

The texts of Scripture which the parson had printed, 
and a challenge for refutation prefixed to them, I at 
once acknoAvledge, recognize the existence of a kind 
of bondage ; but it was such a bondage as permitted 
an Apostle to commend a slave to his Master as a 
brother in Christ ; such a bondage as allowed of the 
attainment of the very highest knowledge of letters, as 
for instance, the example of the poet Terence ; it was 
such a bondage as permitted the bondman to become 
the intimate friend and companion of his Master, and 
of his Master's friends. The mere recognition of the 
existence of an institution on the part of the Inspired 
writers is no guarantee that it was the design of the 
Almighty that such institutions should remain forever. 



A GOOD TlUE COMING. Ill 

A remarkable case in point, is tliat where onr Lord 
tells his disciples — " The Scribes and Pharisees sit in 
Moses' seat, whatsoever, therefore, they bid you observe, 
that observe and do." Where were the Scribes and 
Pharisees, and where was their seat of authority, forty 
years after this time ? 

It is nothing short of blasphemy to say that the 
Book of God will in its spirit recognize, and give au- 
thority to perpetuate, the Institution of African 
Slavery in America ! I place in opposition, therefore, 
to Parson K.'s texts, the whole spirit of Christianity. 
His texts will recognize in those days the existence of 
a bondage such as I have above briefly described, and 
he will find texts which enjoin obedience to masters ; 
but will he find the evils inseparable from a state of 
Slavery such as exists in the United States, in accord- 
ance with the Spirit of Christianity ? 

The Spirit of Christianity is at work — the Sun of 
Eighteousness will melt away all the elements and 
remnants of barbarism, among which I class Slavery. 
This will be effected graduallj^, and in God's own good 
time. The social, moral, and political globe is grad- 
ually approaching its summer solstice. As surely as 
the frozen ice and snow are melted when old Terra 
gradually turns on its axis, and rolls on its orbit round 
the Sun, so will the remnants of barbarism disappear 
when the Sun of Eighteousness shall have His de- 
signed influence ! 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ESTIMATE OF GOVERNOR REEDER — "LARGE STREAMS 
FROM LITTLE FOUNTAINS FLOW." 

It is well known, I presume, in political circles, that 
Governor Reeder gave his influence for the passage of 
the " Kansas Territorial Organization Bill" — in other 
words, he favored the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise. In mj opinion, the principle of this Bill would 
be right in its application, under some circumstances 
— as, for instance, should territory be acquired in the 
future bj these States; but, in the case under consider- 
ation, I must be allowed to say that, in my opinion, it 
was wrong. 

But I write not tins work to give my opinions on 
political subjects like the above. I merely say these 
few words by way of introducing a character, not per- 
fect, nor altogether consistent, but, in the main, highly 
honorable. Such an one was Gov. Reeder. He Avent 
into the Territory of Kansas with the full determination 
of carrying out, and with the strong persuasion of his 
ability to carry out the principles of the Kansas Bill. 
When he entered the Territory he was exceedingly 
cautious in his deportment, and altogether silent with 
regard to his own sentiments on the great question at 
issue. Free State men were very doubtful of his aid 

[112] 



COME TO DINNEK. 113 

in their belialf. The Pro-Slavery party had no more 
assurance of his co-operation, than his approbation of 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise gave them. 
They presumed on this sentiment of the Governor, and 
the leaders of the Pro-Slavery party — tlie " W eston 
Eegency," the " Self-Defensive Club" — made great pre- 
parations to receive the Governor with much respect, 
by giving a public dinner in his honor, at the St. 
George Hotel, Weston, Mo. This was early in the 
fall of 1854. The Governor had just arrived in the 
Territorj^ The dinner was announced in the " Platte 
Argus." Expectation was on tip-toe. The card of in- 
vitation was published, and a courteous letter, declining 
the honor, by Gov. Eeeder, was also published. From 
this day forth Gov. Eeeder was branded as an Abo- 
litionist, and said to be in league with the Emigrant- 
Aid Society. There never were more unfounded 
charges. Had they been true, Gov. Eeeder would not 
have fallen in my estimation ; but they were false. His 
acts, previous to any violation of law, were of a strictly 
impartial character; and his conduct after such in- 
fringement, was in vindication of law. 

The Secretary of the Territory, a Pro-Slavery man, 
told me, " that he did not know what course Governor 
Eeeder intended to pursue — that he never heard him 
declare his private opinion." 

I desire now to state a few facts, in proof of what I 
have said. At Kickapoo City, in Kansas, where T of- 
iiciated, at first, more frequently than at any other 
point, there was intense feeling on the vexed question. 
The occurrence which I am about to stale took place 



114 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

a few weeks after the Governor first arrived in the 
Territory. 

A petition for the appointment of a Justice of the 
Peace at Kickapoo, was prepared and taken to Gov. 
Keeder, then at the Shawnee Mission. The appoint- 
ment was made by the Governor, Avithout asking a 
question about the opinion of the person, whose ap- 
pointment was asked for, on the subject of Slavery. 
The person aj)pointed was a Free State man. This 
appointment gave great offence to the Pro-Slavery 
party in the town, and in Weston, Mo. " The Kansas 
Pioneer," published at Kickapoo, had, in its next issue, 
a furious editorial, condemning the Governor, and call- 
ing a meeting to elect a Justice of the Peace. The peo- 
ple assembled, and elected E. S. Wilhite, a very re- 
spectable Pro-Slavery man. But this was done contrary 
to the Organic LaA\'. Finally, a petition was prepared 
to the Governor, in behalf of Mr. Wilhite, asking his 
appointment to the ofiice of Justice. The appointment 
was at once made by Gov. Eeeder, while he, at the 
same time, remarked, " that he would appoint as many 
Justices as they thought they should need, whatever 
their politics might be." 

This is a very fair specimen of the impartial course 
which Gov. Eeeder endeavored to pursue, when he 
entered upon the execution of his duties. 

The honor of Gov. Keeder has been called in ques- 
tion Avith reference to his pecuniary transactions. Of 
some of these transactions I cannot speak from any 
knowledge of the facts ; but of that transaction which 
was made a pretext for his removal from ofiice, I can 



THE KAW CONTRACT. 115 

speak. Governor Keeder and his party had passed a 
night at Charley Hart's, at Hickory Point, a day or two 
before my visit there, mentioned in a previous chapter. 
The terms of the contract with the Kaw half-breeds, 
which Gov. Eeeder had made, were discussed in the little 
seven-by-niiie reception room, at Charley's. The facts 
were gathered by Charley and otlisrs from Eeeder and 
his party — it was my good fortune to learn the terms 
from those who were near neighbors of the half-breed 
Kaws. My informants were a gentleman by the name 
of Gray, son of a physician dwelling at Sparta, Mo., 
and another gentleman, whose name I do not recollect. 
These were residents near the mouth of Soldier Creek, 
a branch of the Kansas Eiver, and very near neighbors 
to the Indians with whom Eeeder had made the con- 
tract. 

Charley Hart and his companions at Hickory Point 
had heard Gov. Eeeder's statement — Mr. Gray and his 
friend had heard the Indians' statement of the transac- 
tion ; — notes were compared, in my presence and hear- 
ing, by both these parties, and they both agreed in 
this : " That the half-breed Kaws had, each, a section 
of land entailed, as it were, ujoon them for life, and to 
descend to their children ; but not subject to sale, with- 
out the consent of the President of the United States." 
Gov. Eeeder made a contract with some three or four 
of these half-breeds for their lands, at the rate of "five 
dollars per acre, subject to the approbation of the Pres- 
ident." Where is the over-reaching here ? and where 
is the dishonor ? The Indians, at that time, could not 
have obtained two dollars and a half per acre for their 



116 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

lands, from any other person tlian Gov. Eeeclcr, — and 
the contract was made subject to the decision of the 
President. 

This transaction was used against Keeder, in tverj 
paper published on the Border. My object, in mention- 
ing these circumstances, is not the defence of Governor 
Keeder — he can defend himself; but I mention them 
to show the consistency of the policy pursued by the 
Pro-Slavery party, viz. : that no man was permitted 
to remain neutral. He who was not, heart and soul, in 
favor of Slavery extension, must be prepared to take 
extraordinary means to protect his honor and his life. 

Soon after the occurrence of the fact above stated, 
the first election of Whitfield took place. I an well 
satisfied that he was elected by illegal votes. He was 
the Pro-Slavery candidate. I knew many in Missouri 
who said that they had voted for him. It was much 
feared that Gov. Eeeder would not give a certificate to 
"Whitfield. Many threats were made against his life, 
in the event of a refusal. But none of Whitfield's 
competitors contested his election before the Governor, 
and the certificate was furnished. Gov. Eeeder must 
have been well satisfied of the enormous frauds prac- 
ticed in this case, as I should judge, from his subse- 
quent conduct. 

He had the census taken during the winter, in the 
Territory. The returns showed a very large decrease 
in the number of those entitled to vote, compared with 
the number of those who had exercised the franchise 
when Whitfield ran the first time for Congress. 

The Governor, after the returns were made, districted 



HOW THE TROUBLE BEGAN. Il7 

the Territory, and issued a proclamation for tlie hold- 
ing of the election for the members of the Territorial 
Legislature. An oath was prescribed, to be administered 
to the electors by the judges ; it infringed no right, but 
if it had been allowed to be administered, I think it 
would have effectually prevented the election of so 
laige a number of Pro-Slavery members. Gov. Keed- 
er's subsequent conduct with the Legislature which was 
said to be elected by the people of Kansas, is well known. 
I will not dwell upon it. 

The Governor's troubles began when he declined a 
dinner, prepared for him at Weston, Mo., at which he 
would have been called on to define his position. If 
Weston had been in Kansas, perhaps he would have 
gone — and perhaps he would not. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A SECEETARY OF STATE AND A PRIEST TALK POLITICS 
WITH THEIR NIGHT- CAPS ON. 

On account of my previous and more accurate 
knowledge of the topography of the eastern border of 
Kansas, I was often invited to take a stroll, by those 
who might have come from a distance to look at the 
country, and sometimes by the newly-appointed officers 
in the Territory. 

On one of these rambles, in the neighborhood of 
Kickapoo Indian Village, in company with a clerk in 
one of the departments at Washington, a lawyer from 
Philadelphia, and Mr. Woodson from Virginia, the 
Secretary of the Territory, we got belated ; and, as a 
place of refuge, where we might spend the night, I 
suggested the parsonage of the missionary among the 
Kickapoos. We accordingly went to this house, and 
were received very kindly. 

The house was an old log structure, quite roomy for 
such a country. There were a few fruit trees about the 
house, and about twenty-five acres of land under culti- 
vation. Various subjects suggested themselves for 
conversation during the evening. . The old missionary 
I have before alluded to — the Rev. N. T. Shaler, of the 
M. E. Church, South — suggested the " goose." It was 
utterly impossible to collect three or four persons to- 

fll8] 



BIRDS OF A FEATHER. 119 

getter at any place, or in any honse whatever, with- 
out the mention of the all-absorbing topic — Slavery. 
The Kev. host commenced it this evening, by stating 
that he was anxious to get a slave-servant for his wife. 
I was well aware that this gentleman was sound on the 
question, but I had hoped that we would be spared that 
evening from listening to a lecture on the faith. 

The old gentleman told us how sound the Eev. Mr. 
Johnson, of his church, at the Shawnee Mission, was 
on the "goose," and expressed the hope that tiiat Eever- 
end Brother would be put in nomination for Congress, 
and elected ! Here was one clergyman electioneer- 
ing for a Reverend Brother, and the audience com- 
posed of a Clerk at Washington, a Philadelphia lawyer, 
a Secretary of State, and an Episcopal clergyman. I 
thought this was carrying the w^ar into Africa without 
any delicacy or fear as to the result. We had com- 
pared notes about the old man before we reached his 
house, and had come to the conclusion that he was 
very ignorant, but all allowed that his goodness would 
balance his ignorance. The old gentleman did not 
raise much of a breeze. For my own part, I saw that 
it was an item of the bill to draw me out a little further 
than I usually ventured. The old gentleman said that 
he was going out forty miles further in the interior 
with the Indians ; that as he had pre-empted the claim 
on which the old mission house stood, he would like to 
sell his claim. I told him that I would purchase it, 
and remove my wife from Weston at once to it. The 
papers were drawn up, it was considered a bargain in 
the house, and it soon got to be known on 'change. 



120 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

But in about a week after this I was told tliat I could 
not have the place, as it had been promised to another 
person, which fact had escaped the old gentleman's 
recollection when he bargained with me ! I was after- 
wards told in Weston that the "Directors" had tam- 
pered with the Parson, and persuaded him not to fulfil 
his engagement with me, as I was not sound on the 
*' goose." 

I was called on this evening to conduct evening 
prayer, but I declined ; I would have been obliged to 
m.ake an extemporaneous prayer, and I knew that any- 
thing extemporaneous from me would be dangerous. 
" A prayer for all sorts and conditions of men," con- 
tains the germs of Abolition ! 

The mistress of the house retired after worship, I 
do not know where. The Washington Clerk and the 
Lawyer from the City of Brotherly Love, were asked 
to make themselves comfortable together during the 
night ; in like manner Secretary Woodson and myself 
were consigned to the* same bed. 

Secretary Woodson is a very handsome man, of 
about thirty years of age. He is quite tall and slender, 
very gentlemanly in manners and in conversation. He 
had been editor of the '' Lynchburg (Virginia) Eepub- 
lican." He did not consider it his duty to be as re- 
served as was Governor Reeder, on the subject of 
Slavery in the Territory. He was in favor of its 
establishment. He did not appear to be fanatical on 
the subject. He discovered the same candor in me 
that I had found in him, although we differed in senti- 
ment. We opened our minds to each other ; I could 



COMING EVENTS PREDICTED. 121 

not help liking tlie gentleman, and I think he must 
have taken a fancy to me, for he not only conversed 
on matters of public interest, but also on those which 
had concerned himself in the past. 

He never anticipated, nor seemed to desire, that the 
people in Missouri should interfere to violate the bal- 
lot-box. He remarked, "that as far as he was con- 
cerned, justice should be done to both parties." I 
said, "that if the officers of the Territory would stand 
firm, and not allow certain gentlemen to control the 
affairs of the Territory, then I had every confidence 
that the final result would be as I desired." It did 
not appear to him that there was any important inter- 
est at stake, either of the North or of the South. He 
seemed to be a pro-slavery man from taste^ and not on 
principle. He seemed to think that the Eepeal of the 
Missouri Compromise was a Northern measure. I ac- 
knowledged that Northern politicians gave it their aid, 
but that no measure could be called Northern, unless the 
people of the North could take a warm interest in it, 
which it could not be said the Northern people had 
done. But I went on to say, that if Mr. Atchison and 
his friends in Missouri were to be credited, Mr. A. 
and a Senator from each of the States of Virginia and 
South Carolina, had used extraordinary persuasion 
with the Senator from Illinois, as Chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, to insert the repealing clause. 
I told him also, that Senator Atchison had made a 
speech in the Methodist Meeting-House, in Weston, 
two years ago, at which time he declared " that the 
Territory across the river, should not be organized, un- 



122 THREE YEARS O^T THE KANSAS BORDER. 

less the people of Platte, and of Missouri, should have 
an opportunity of taking with them their Institutions, 
and settling there." That this declaration was in 
perfect consistency with a statement made to me by 
Colonel M., of St. Joseph, Mo., while we travelled to- 
gether on board of one of the steamers on Lake Michi- 
gan, in the summer of 1854. Col. M. had spent the 
winter and spring at Washington, during which the 
" Kansas Bill" was pending. Col. M. told me that it 
was the general remark, " that a Senator from Missouri, 
and one from each of the States of Virginia and South 
Carolina, had more to do v^ith the Committee on Ter- 
ritories, than the Committee-men did." He stated the 
circumstances much more pointedly and interestingly 
than this, but I do not feel justified in giving his 
exact words. Senator Atchison, since the passage of 
the Bil], made a speech in Kansas, in which he appro- 
priated a considerable share of the glory attending the 
Repeal of the Missouri Compromise to himself. Sen- 
ator Douglas, I believe, has never denied that there 
were interesting debates held on that measure, on 
occasions when a Quorum of the Senate was not 
present." 

The Secretary "did not deny that all these state- 
ments were correct." I replied, that as far as my own 
statement was concerned, I knew that it was correct. 
Senator Atchison, at home , talks to the people in 
quite an interestiDg manner. He would never do for 
the head of the " Circumlocution Of&ce." He gives 
valuable information of how he does- things, and how 
things can be done. 



A PEACEFUL SUBJECT. 123 

If "you want to know, you know," wliy lie can tell 
you. There are few who can speak with more au- 
thority. 

The Secretary and" myself placed ourselves several 
times during the night in a sleeping position ; but the 
god of slumbers did not seem to interest himself in our 
behalf. We would turn over again, as some interest- 
ing point would present itself. There was no end to 
the momentous questions which the state of things 
presented. 

The Secretary inquired about Church affairs at Kick- 
apoo City. I was glad that he called my attention to 
these. I proceeded to talk on this subject, without the 
least interruption, for a long time. I repeated Avhat I 
had hoped to do, and told him what little I had been 
able to accomplish. 

I aske,d him what his opinion was on the statement 
which I had made. I received no answer. His night- 
cap had got down over his ears. 

" Si vis me [dormire] flere dolendumest, primum ipsi 
tibi." If you wish me to sleep, then you had better 
go to sleep before me. 



CHAPTER XXL 

A HIGH CHUECH PARSON TAKES LUTHER FOR A MODEL. 

I SHOULD not be at all surprised to be asked, "how 
it happened that I did not meet with the fate which 
befell others as good and as true as myself?" Per- 
haps those who received the adornment of "tar and 
feathers" were too good ! "Be not zealous over much," 
is the injunction of the Apostle. 

Those who went up the Missouri to the Kansas 
Border in a " furor of Freedom," were simple enough 
to fancy that the segis of the Constitution extended 
over, and protected the citizens of this Union, in the 
expression of their honest sentiments, in any section of 
the Republic ! I was not so patriotic as to give this 
strict construction to that Palladium. I had the ad- 
vantage, therefore, of others, having been schooled two 
whole years on the Border, previous to the outbreak. 

I am constrained to hold the opinion that an ambas- 
sador to a foreign court ought to be well acquainted 
with the politics, manners, and customs, and particularly 
with the prejudices of the people Avith whom he is to 
reside, if he hopes to represent well and honorably the 
Grovernment whose commission he holds. This declar- 
ation must not be met by the puerile remark, "That the 
analogy will not hold good !" 

I maintain that institutions make a people, as much 

[124] 



PHILOSOPHY. 125 

as that a people set up institutions. And if tliis bo 
true, the people of the Southern States are, to all 
practical purposes, foreign to us. Freedom is no more 
an institution of the North, than is Slavery an institu- 
tion of the South. Toombs can lecture on the blessings 
of Slavery in Boston, but Sumner cannot set forth the 
evils of Slavery at Savannah ; he is thankful when he 
can do this undisturbed at Washington ! Now there 
are some foolish enough to believe that these things are 
not according to the "genius of our Institutions." 
But I maintain that they are wrong. Every man 
fancieh that he has got "genius;" and as genius is an 
extraordinary endowment of nature, whereby that good 
dame designs to make an individual ride Jehu-like, on 
his own hobby— and every man on his own hobby 
becomes lost iu admiration of the gaily-caparisoned 
hobby-horses of his compeers ! Nature did not endow 
our Institutions with "genius." It was a gift made 
by various " geniuses." " The genius of our In- 
stitutions," is a good deal like the image of Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream ! Be cautious you cleric ! be very 
cautious ! The reader will please bear in mind that 
the writer addresses himself here. "Be cautious, sir." 

my good genius, leave me not at this trying moment ! 

1 need your help. We are in the midst of a disquisi- 
tion on " genius !" My genius has consented to wait 
a little longer ! The " genius of our Institutions" is 
like the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream ; 
the huge thing which he saw in the shape of a man, 
but was not a man, was composed of materials, you 
know, wliich had no chemical affinity for each other ; 



126 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

to speak ad jpoipulum^ tliey loved eacli other as oil and 
water do, tliey would not mix, and become something 
else. 

NoAv, Colonel Benton, for instance, would say that 
Old Hickory was Avell aware of this feature in our In- 
stitutions. He personified the " genius," and set the 
image at his elbow, and any villain who would have 
come for the purpose of dealing a blow to the clayey 
toes of that incarnation of our Institutions, why he would 
have heard a muttered " by the Eternal," ringing in his 
ears, and flight would have been the only safety. The 
" genius of our Institutions," therefore, is something like 
the image. The people do not like the image as it was 
compounded by our fathers. Some desire a good deal 
more clay worked into the system ; others think that 
there is not sufficient gold in the structure of the body, 
and these are very desirous to draw on California for 
that precious metal ; the Mariposa tract will, perhaps, 
furnish a suffi.cient quantity. I go in for the gold, it 
is tough. Yes, sir, tough is the word. 

Well, when I was out on the Border, I had greater 
necessity before me to examine the composition of the 
image, which represents the "genius of our Institu- 
tions." With Captain Cuttle, of famous memory, I 
'' made a note of it." When I found a man who was 
all gold, then an inclination of the head, as much as to 
say, "• Gold is the word." When another mentioned 
iron, then another slight inclination, which was meant 
to indicate "Iron is an excellent metal." Sometimes 
we would fall in with a fellow who was all for "brass;" 
this being a compound, it told me to look out for a 



EXTREMELY DIPLOMATIC. 127 

man who did not think that the day of compromises 
had gone by. " Compromises are good when well 
taken care of," my head would seem to nod. 

The advocates of dai/, tuell-baked day, were many; 
to these my head would give two or three little nods, 
which were meant to say, "yes, have the clay well baked 
so as to endure for all time, if it is a possible thing P' I 
would then be asked if I did not think that the " genius 
of our Institutions" could be constructed of Avell- baked 
clay, so as to endure for centuries ? I gently would 
reply, "that I tliought not; still I was fallible, it might 
be so." I did not assert that it could not be so. Like 
Luther, I set forth the " Theses," but I asserted no 
doctrine. 

This reminds me of the caption to this subject, and 
it also bids me give an extract from an English review, 
" The Christian Eemembrancer," being part of a critique 
and analysis of the character of Martin Luther. The 
great man has a good character given of him in the main, 
but he is said to have had a great deal of dissimidation 
in his character. This charge might be brought in the 
same sense against th« Son of God! Every effort 
which was made to " entangle him in his talk," was 
met by a wisdom which all his adversaries were not 
able to gainsay or resist. 

Luther was endowed with some of the wisdom of 
his Heavenly Master ; he was able for the wily diplo- 
mats of Rome. But to the interesting extract : 

"But Italian policy, however sagacious and clear, 
had in Luther a difacult foe to deal with, and Rome 
was destined to find its match. The only effect which 



128 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

the observation of this aim on the part of Rome had 
on Luther, was to excite in him, in addition to his 
original grievance, a deep and inexpressible indigna- 
tion that it should be met in that way ; that the only 
answer to a witness against wrong should be a move 
to incarcerate him. ' Was it not a shame that these 
people set so high a price upon him?' He saw him- 
self regarded as vermin, to be trodden and stamped 
upon; as something whose proper fate was simple 
effacement ; and the bitterness of a double wrong now 
invigorated and sharpened him for the contest. There 
mixed with this indignation no slight disdain at the 
idea that such a line of proceeding should be supposed 
at all probable to succeed with him. Awake to those 
vast energies which were fast rising into life within 
him, and full of conscious power, he resented, while 
he despised, the audacity of men who could presume 
to imagine that he was to be caught by such strategics. 
Did they think him a simpleton, or what were they 
thinking of, to think that a possible thing ? A mortal 
jealousy of Italian subtlety only put him the more on 
his mettle, and inflamed him. Luther was peculiarly 
of that temper which has a horror of being taken in, 
and is haunted by the ' declpi turpe esV The Italian 
was by national character and careful cultivation a 
diplomatist. He had that character, especially in Ger- 
many. The German felt himself no match for him, 
and retaliated by dislike and suspicion. The dread 
of an Italian was proverbial ; an undefinable notion 
of his unlimited powers of deception pervaded the 
mass, and one German warned another as he approach- 



DISSIMULATION OF LUTHER. 129 

ed. He was advancing now to the contest with his 
j)racticed penetration, his easy address, his Avhole art 
and science of management; and he promised him 
self an easy victory over the poor simple German. 
Luther's gall rose at the idea. Would he find it so 
easy? and would he find him quite so poor simple a 
German?' Why should not a German assume the 
Italian for once, and establish some small pretension 
to tact and policy ? It seems to have been in con- 
nection with feelings like these that Luther gave him- 
self that carte-hlanche for dissimulation Avhicli he used 
throughout all the stages of his struggle with Kome in 
which dissimulation was wanted. He certainly did 
meet the Italians here with their own weapon. He 
stuck at no disguises, no professions of humilit}^, affec- 
tion, reverence, and modesty, which simple language 
could '_supply, whenever his position called for them. 
Passion indeed is the prominent feature in Luther's 
character, and it does not appear at first sight as if 
passion and dissimulation would well go together ; but 
they often do. Dissimulation is, after all, only a tool 
for accomplishing an object; and passion, which ls 
clear-sighted enough to see this, will make use of that 
tool as it makes use of others. It will feel a relish in 
the employment of it, just as it will in the directly 
, martial and openly hostile exercises of its calling, and 
even exult and triumph in it, in proportion as it is 
alive to its peculiar efiicacy. Indeed, dissimulation 
will thus become a positive expression of passion ; its 
success affords the most pungent gratification which 
there is to scorn, and passion specially delie^hts in 



130 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

scorn ; tlie deceiver feels that in deceiving he humil- 
iates and degrades. Luther was as powerful a dissem- 
bler as he was an assailant. Formed just on the most 
formidable model in the Avhole workshop of character, 
with a degree of passion which would have driven any 
ordinary mortal into madness, he combined a perfect 
mastery and control of it, which converted it into a 
tool. An easy skill and a strong hand turned it about 
at pleasure. He did what he liked with it. He rode 
it as a skilful equestrian rides his high-mettled horse. 
He played with it as a conjuror plays with his balls, 
jerking and recalling them at will, and keeping them 
tossing in the air about him, but still obedient to the 
centre of attraction in himself 'I never write so 
well,' he said, ' as when I am angry.' But the change 
from superciliousness to deference, from rage to flat- 
tery, from hatred to affection, was ready at a moment's 
notice, and the instrument always gave the proper note 
at a touch. 

"With these general lines of policy prepared on 
both sides, hostilities commenced. The first act was a 
citation from the Pope to Luther to appear personally, 
within sixty days, at Eome. The indictments were 
framed ; an ecclesiastical court was appointed to try 
his case ; and the only thing wanted was the presence 
of the offender. ' I saw,' says Luther, ' the thunder- 
bolt launched against me : I was the sheep that mud- 
died the wolf's water. Tetzel escaped, and I was to 
let myself be eaten.' Thrown upon himself, and con- 
fronted with imminent danger thus immediately in the 
contest, Luther met the emergency with the utmost 



HE ASSERTS NO DOCTEINE. 131 

coolness and self-possession. There is not a symptom 
of its ever having entered into his head to obey the 
citation ; whatever happened, he had made up his 
mind that he would never let himself be dragged to 
Eome. But the resoluteness of the determination be- 
trayed itself by no word of violence or pride. A let- 
ter from the University of Wittemberg, with many ex- 
pressions of deep reverence for the Holy See, inter- 
ceded for its professor, who, ' on account of the state 
of his health, and the dangers attending the journey, 
was not able to undertake what he would otherwise be 
most anxious to do;' adding, 'Most holy father, our 
brother is indeed worthy of credit : and as for his 
theses against Indulgences, they are merely disputa- 
tory. He has merely exercised his right of debating 
freely, and has asserted nothing.' An arrangement 
entered into at the same time with the Elector Freder- 
ick, that the latter should decline to give Luther a safe 
passport to Eome, supplied him with a still more effi- 
cient and respectable excuse. 

" The next attempt on the part of the Papal Court 
was conducted by a Nuncio in person. Cardinal Caje- 
tan was at this time in Germany, returning from an 
unsuccessful mission on which he had been sent for 
exciting a war against the Turks. He was commis- 
sioned to undertake Luther's case, and received sum- 
mary instructions ' to get hold of him, keep him safely, 
and bring him to Eome.'* An honest, vehement man, 



* ' Braccliio cogas atque compellas, ut eo in potestate tua redacto 
eum sub fideli custodia retineas, ut coram nobis sistatur.' 



132 THEEE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

witliout tlie ordinary tact of an Italian envoy, lie was 
accompanied by an attache who in some measure sup- 
plied his deficiency, Urban di Serra Longa, an Italian 
courtier, whose long residence in a diplomatic charac- 
ter in Germany had familiarized him with the national 
character, and made him a peculiarly fit man for deal- 
ing with a German. The Cardinal cited Luther to 
Augsburg ; and Luther went, receiving warnings at 
every step to be on his guard against the sly Italians. 
John Kestner, of AYittemberg, provisor of the Cor- 
deliers, was full of apprehensions for his brother — 
' Thou wilt find Italians at Augsburg, brother, who 
are learned folks, subtle antagonists, and will give thee 
a great deal of trouble. I fear thou wilt not be able 
to maintain thy cause against them ; they will throw 
thee in the fire, and consume thee in the flames.' 
Doctor Auerbach, of Leipsic, repeated the note of 
warning — ' The Italians are not to be trusted.' Pre- 
bend Adelmann, of Leipsic, repeated it after him. 
There was small need for impressing it upon Luther. 
Arrived at Augsburg, he was waited on by Serra 
Longa, who took the line of advising him, as a sensi- 
ble man, to submit himself to the Cardinal without re- 
serve. ' Come,' he concluded, ' the Cardinal is waiting 
for you. I will escort you to him myself Fear 
nothing ; all will be over soon, and without diflS.culty.' 
Luther heard him with respect, and expressed himself 
as perfectly ready to meet the Cardinal ; but he wanted 
one thing before doing so — a safe conduct. ' A safe 
conduct ? Do not think of asking for one ; the legate 
is well disposed, and quite ready to end the affair ami- 



LUTHER VERY HUMBLE. 133 

cably. If you ask for a safe conduct, you will spoil 
your business.' The attacMs assurance was confirm- 
ed by the rest of the Carclinars suite : ' The Cardinal 
assures you of his grace and favor;' 'the Cardinal is a 
father, full of compassion.' Luther expressed no dis- 
trust in him, but wanted a safe conduct. 

" The safe conduct came, and Luther presented him- 
self before the Cardinal, secure and humble. Pros- 
trating himself first, he waited for one command to 
raise him to his knees, and another to raise him to his 
legs. After a silence, in which the Cardinal expected 
him to speak, but Luther humbly waited to be ad- 
dressed, the conference commenced. Cajetan was 
stern, brief, and summary, and simply demanded re- 
tractation. Luther required argument to prove that 
he was wrong. For several successive interviews the 
same game went on, and Luther suggested argument, 
and the Cardinal repelled it. As Luther, however, re- 
mained cool, while the Cardinal became angry and 
heated, the balance of the discussion at last inclined in 
the former's favor, and he caught the Cardinal in a 
trap, — one sufficiently frivolous, indeed, but according 
to the technical laws of logic acknowledged in that 
day, decisive argumentatively. One of Luther's ob- 
jectionable theses was, that 'the treasure of Indul- 
gences was not composed of the merits and sufferings 
of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The Cardinal asserted this 
to be flatly contradictory to the extravaganie of Pope 
Clement. Luther challenged him to prove it, and the 
challenge was caught eagerly. The extravaganie was 
produced and read till they came to the words ' the 



184 THREE YEARS O:^ THE KANSAS BORDER. 

Lord Jesus Christ has acquired the treasure by his 
sufferings.' 'Pause there,' said Luther. ' Most rever- 
end father, be good enough carefallj to consider and 
reflect on that phrase, "He has acquired^ Christ has 
acquired a treasure by his merits ; the merits, there- 
fore, are not the treasure ; for, to speak with philoso- 
phers, the cause is different from the things which flow 
from it.' Cajetan had committed a mistake in being 
enticed into an argument, and did not regain his posi- 
tion. 

" Luther, having puzzled the Cardinal, and done all 
he had to do ; having noticed, too, symptoms of irasci- 
bility in his judge, from whom he began to receive 
first offers and then threats of a safe conduct to Eome, 
resolved to take his leave ; leaving with his friends, 
first, a note to the Cardinal, explaining that the small- 
ness of his resources did not allow him to protract his 
stay in Augsburg; and, secondly, an appeal to the 
Pope, whereby the Cardinal's hands were tied, and any 
retaliatory sentence to which his offended dignity 
might incline him, stopped. Before the morning light 
he mounted a horse, issued out of a small gate in the 
city, which a town-councillor had directed to be open 
for him, and left Augsburg at a gallop. His feelings 
on his return to Wittemberg were those of bitter mer- 
riment, not softened by the sight, which he then for 
the first time had, of the written directions contained 
in the Pope's brief to the Cardinal. ' The Cardinal 
would fain have had me in his hands, and sent me to 
Eome. He is vexed, I warrant, that I have escaped 
him. He fancied he was master of me in Augsburg; 



LEFT TO THE AGUE. 135 

he thought he had me ; but he had got the eel by the 
tail.' " 

I trust that the insertion of this passage, to point my 
moral, Avill not be regarded as a piece of folly and pre- 
sumption. I took Luther for a model in diplomacy, in 
the same sense that artists take Titian for a model as a 
painter ; there has been but one Titian, and I " reck- 
on" that Luther will not lose his identity ; but if I 
should turn out a rival, my biographers— for, in that 
case, I shall have biographers — will attend to the whole 
matter, and see that I shall not suffer by the compari- 
son! 

ISTow, the end of the whole of this chapter is just 
simply this : I was permitted to remain on the Border, 
" closely watched^^ until the fever and ague took hold 
of me, and then it was wisely concluded that I could 
do but little harm, as I was unable to preach ! 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

BEN. STRmaFELLOW LAYS ASIDE HIS PIPE, AND GETS 
ON HIS HIGH HORSE. 

The subject of this chapter has had more "honors 
thrust upon him," than generally falls to the lot 
of individuals. He has been designated General 
Stringfellow, Lawyer Stringfellow, Doctor String- 
fellow, "Speaker of the House of Delegates of the 
Missouri-Kansas-Legislature-Stringfellow," " Vestry- 
man Stringfellow." He has also been invested with 
something like ubiquity; — some make him reside 
in Missouri — some, in Kansas. Now, I Vvdsh to say to 
the world, that this is not fair. It is utterly impossible 
that B. F. S. could attend to all these matters, and whip 
Gov. Keeder into the bargain. There are two brothers 
by the name of Stringfellow. " Simeon and Levi are 
brethren ; instruments of cruelty are in their habita- 
tions." I presume that the confusion of the two per- 
sonages in one, arises from the fact that the principal 
calling of both is sufficient to make them lose their iden- 
tity ! They are both disposed to do all they can for the 
"goose," and more than most men would do, or would 
dare to do, unless they had good backers. 

But let us divide the honors. B. F. Stringfellow is 
a lawyer — he is called General by courtesy, I believe ; 

[136] 



DIVIDING THE HONOES. 137 

he was a vestryman, and perhaps is now in that office, 
in a parish, founded by myself, at Weston, Mo. He 
resides at Weston, Mo. 

J. H. Stringfellow, brother of B. F. S,, is a Doctor 
and an Editor, and was the Speaker of the House of 
Delegates in Kansas. He resides at Atchison, K. T. 
The Doctor is a member of the M. E. Church, South. 

Neither of these gentlemen ever offered me violence. 
This is saying a great deal. I once received a personal 
introduction to the Doctor, in days long past, before 
the science of "gooseology" came into fashion; but, 
since that time, 

"A glance from his eye, 
Shun danger^ and fly," 

was the rule with me. 

B. F. S. I knew much better than I did his brother, 
though no person would ever do me the favor to present 
me to him. He did not reside at Weston, during my 
first stay in the country. When I returned, he was then 
settled at this point. The " goose" interposed — I wore 
no "hemp" in my button-hole; consequently, I was 
never presented. But B. F. S. and myself often talked, 
in a mixed company. 

Gen. Stringfellow is, perhaps, forty-seven years of 
age; he is five feet six inches high, florid complexion, 
yellow hair. 

It was always my impression that he was a good- 
tempered man. Every morning he would pass down 
by the door of the house at which I at one time resided, 
leisurely and slowly, and meditatively, with his pipe 



138 THREE YEARS O^ THE KANSAS BORDER. 

in his mouth ; liis head would become enveloped in a 
cloud of smoke. You see, he did not walk fast enough 
to leave one puff behind him, ere another puff came ; 
''and a-puf&ng he would go," until he got down to the 
door of the "St. George Hotel," directly opposite his own 
office; and there would be found a chair, and there 
would be clients, and there would be " squatter sover- 
eigns," and there would be couriers from the Territory, 
and there would be editors of " Platte Arguses" and 
"Leavenworth Heralds ;" and, occasionally, the voice 
of " Davy" would discourse the " Music of the Border," 
coming down the street, on his way from Platte City. 
Davy would throw the reins on the neck of his steed, 
and the black boy would take him to the stable. Davy 
would say : " Well, Ben, what's the news ?" If he re- 
ceived an answer, he would have to go quite close to 
Ben, to learn its nature. Ben was very much indis- 
posed to exertion. He talked very much at his ease — 
he did everything at his ease ; he published a pamphlet 
very much at his ease, entitled, " ]N"egro Slavery no 
Evil." I compared its statistics with those in the Cen- 
sus Eeports, but they did not agree ; and I agreed not 
to state my discoveries. I had private reasons. I mere- 
ly concluded that Ben had consulted his ease more 
than the Census, in making out his case. I never was 
- more surprised, than when I heard that B. F. S. was 
going to shoot Grov. Eeeder. I may not understand the 
character of B. F. S., but if I am mistaken, the most of 
his friends have the same opinion of him that I have. 
For instance, he has a distant relative, living at Kicka- 
poo City, who was a member of the Kansas Legislature 



AN EFFOET MADE. 139 

at the time ; well, I never saw, or heard, man laugh 
more heartily than did this man, at the idea of B. F. S. 
fighting with Gov. Keeder. I do not mean to say that 
B. F. S. is not good in council. He has shown him- 
self good in giving bad counsel, more than once ; but 
it may be relied on, that he will leave the execution to 
others. 

There was once, however, a time when the General, 
in obedience to the advice of Mr. Toots, " made an 
effort." 

The nomination of a candidate to represent the peo- 
ple of Kansas, was appointed to take place, once upon 
a time. The people of Missouri where I lived, showed 
a lively interest in the matter. They felt disposed to 
lend a helping hand on such occasions. This meeting 
was to be held at Leavenworth City. It was the time 
when Whitfield was re-nominated. 

Many were the men at Weston this day, on horse- 
back, having on their dragoon coats. There was some- 
thing in the wind, I was sure. I took a careless walk 
down past the '^St. George." Ben was just tapping 
the ashes out of his pipe — making his thumb-nail the 
anvil on Avhich he smote the instrument. He had his 
dragoon coat on, and the horse was standing at the 
door. The Statesman mounted, sat. An irregular 
cavalcade went down to the ferry-boat, lying about a 
mile below the town. I walked down towards the 
boat, and as I walked, James Burns, Esq., of Weston, 
whom I liked, overtook me on horseback. He ad- 
dressed me, and asked me to take a notice, which he 
handed me, and put it up in a public place, on board 



140 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

of one of the Missouri Eiver Packets, wliicli was lying 
about a quarter of a mile below Weston. 

I took tlie notice ; it was a declinature of a nomina- 
tion for Congress, on the part of James, and was de- 
signed, of course, to notify those on board of that boat, 
who were residents of Weston, and its neighborhood, 
and on their way down to the meeting, to be held at 
Leavenworth, K. T. 

I went on board the boat and asked a gentleman to 
put up the notice. I found Parson Kerr on board, 
from Fort Leavenworth. He had a few copies of his 
pamphlet in defence of Slavery with him, which he 
had circulated among the faithful on board. The 
Parson never gave me a copy of his pamphlet, although 
we were very intimate with each other. I stepped out 
of the cabin and stood talking with a gentleman for a 
moment at the door of the cabin, outside ; while here, 
and almost instantly after I left the cabin, a gentle- 
man who, at that time, had just come from some of the 
lower counties of Missouri, Eussell by name, and now 
of the famous firm of " Major & Eussell," at Leaven- 
worth Cit}^, came out, having been advised thereto by 
Parson K,, to look at me in a contemptuous manner, 
and to take the dimensions of a little Parson not sound 
on the "goose." Mr. E. looked at me, and I looked at 
him. Some of the brethren will tell me " that I had 
no business there," And there is a great deal of 
philosophy in the observation, about as much as there 
was in a remark made by a man who had the Govern- 
ment contract to supply the Indians with flour, up in 
the Kansas country, when expostulated with for cheat- 



NOMINATION THE SAIME AS ELECTION. 141 

ing the poor creatures ; lie replied, " THcy have no busi- 
ness to be Indians !" 

Well, Ben laid aside Ms pipe, mounted Kis horse, 
and accompanied by many valiant men, went down to 
take care of the interest of the people of Kansas. 
''As goes the Empire State, so goes the Union." As 
goes Weston, so goes Kansas ! Whitfield was nomi- 
nated, and a nomination ^^as just the same as an election. 
I have not taken much interest in politics since I left 
Kansas, but I believe Whitfield did not serve out his 
term. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE ELECTION" — JOHN ELLIS, THE FEKRYMAN, "ALL 



For several days previous to the SOtli of March, 
1855, the day on which the members for the Legisla- 
ture in Kansas were to be chosen, there were very de- 
cided evidences to be seen in Missouri, of the paternal 
interest which her people took in Kansas affairs. 
''Self-Defensives" met at Platte City— " Self-Defen- 
sives" met at Weston — "Self-Defensives" met at Leav- 
enworth. " The Platte Argus" gave in its colums the 
"general" orders from head-quarters. Saddle-horses 
were all engaged for the day of invasion. Tents were 
in process of being constructed in almost every house, 
for the boys. All the old dragoon coats were borrow- 
ed. Shot guns, rifles, revolvers, and bowie knives 
were borrowed for the occasion. Whiskey canteens 
and bottles were borrowed ; numerous orders were sent 
in to the saddlers for straps to hang the canteens over 
the shoulders of the volunteers. I merely state here 
what came under my own observation. I could not 
be in fifty places at the same time. I take no hearsay 
reports to guide my pen. 

Everytliing depended upon the point of destination 
which had been assigned to the different corps of the 
boys, I mean, if A.'s company was designed to carry 

[M2] 



143 



the polls at Marjsville, on tlie Big Blue, why, then, 
Mr. A. must start at least live days before the opening 
of the polls. If B.'s company had been ordered to 
take Leavenworth by storm, why then B. conld wait 
until the last moment, and go down to the sound of 
^'' fife and drumy 

On the day previous to the election, a party of the 
" Platte County Boys" came into Weston, for the most 
part on horseback, but some in wagons. They had 
tufts of hemp (the staple of Platte County) in their 
hats and in their button holes. This party had a long 
pole surmounted hj \hQ animal alive and squawking I 
This animal was not the bird of Jove, but the bird of 
the barn-yard — reader, it was "the goose!" From 
henceforth let this animal be mentioned with honor. 
O ye future historians, give it a place in your annals ; 
when yon mention "Eoman Eagles," say a vford in 
behalf of " Missouri Geese !" 

The party which had the "goose" alive -and kicking 
— no she Avas not kicking — her feet were strapped to 
the pole, this might have been emblematic of Slavery, 
the object of the conquest of Kansas — but we rather 
think that the object was to keep " mother goose" in 
suhjection, or better yet, in elevation ! — the party, then, 
which had the "goose" alive and not kicking, crossed 
the Eubicon on the day previous to the battle. I do 
not know where they camped, and anxiously hoped for 
the morrow. Somebody else, perhaps, can follow the 
line of march and the engagement which took place at 
the ballot-box, by which the " goose" ruined Kansas, 
as a set-off to the salvation of Eome, by the cackling 



144 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

of "geese." You cannot rely upon geese anymore 
tlian you can upon men. They will stultify them- 
selves. But perhaps the geese on the Kansas border 
liad never read of the patriotism oi trieir ancestry at 
Eome. Or if this is too great a reflection, perhaps 
they had forgotten. Men forget, and arguing from 
analogy, geese will forget too. 

Pay-day will come, and the 80th of March, 1855, 
came. The " Weston Band" discoursed its music. An 
army of Infantry collected. A line was formed of 
those luho affected to love slavery, but who loved 
whiskey with an unfeigned love. 

" March ! March ! rummies in order, March !" 

This company embarked for Leavenworth. I do not 
know what they did there, except I credit what many 
of them said they did — " gave in their votes for the Pro- 
Slavery candidates." I am induced to believe that thej 
told the truth; but the reader must judge for himself; 
there was nothing to prevent them from voting at 
Leavenworth that day. 

My reader will bear in mind, that there were two 
ferry-boats running between the neighborhood of Wes- 
ton and the Kansas shore. As a matter of course, these 
boats, if personified, were rivals. John Wells owned 
the steam ferry-boat which plied between the Eialto, 
a landing a little below Weston, and the landing on 
the opposite Kansas shore, only three miles from Fort 
Leavenworth. John Wells had always been sound on 
the "bird" above alluded to — not a breath of suspicion 
ever entered the minds of any, with reference to "J. 
W." 



A PORTRAIT. 145 

But two miles above Weston, opposite Kickapoo, 
there plied a long-low-dilapidatecl-suspicious-looking- 
flat-boat, Joliii Ellis, Commander. 

John was originally from Tloosierdom, but had long 
dwelt on the bottom land of the Missouri, in the famed 
Platte Purchase. He had simply, on the passage of 
the Kansas Bill, moved his traps from the east bank to 
the west bank of the Missouri, and went into the flat- 
boat carrying trade. The business remunerated, or John 
would not have continued it. He had been in successful 
operation, as a ferryman, for several months previous 
to the day of the election for the members of the Leg- 
islature. J. E., at this time, was about forty -five years 
of age, perhaps ; he looked older, but he had used him- 
self badly. He was small of stature ; his complexion 
was quite florid — he painted in Avhiskey colors. His 
nose was a little aquiline, having quite extended and 
flabby nostrils — color, a la turkey -gobbler's gills. Oh, 
John, forgive me ; you know my profession, I cannot 
paint 3'ou, conscientiously, in anything but true colors ; 
but, John, I owe you many thanks. Many a time did 
John wade into the water, up to his knees, to take me 
in his embrace, and place me gently in his flat-boat, 
^vhen I wanted to cross over, to preach at Kickapoo. 
Perhaps, John, the New York Society Library will get 
a copy of this little book, and then you will be rendered 
immortal ! I must acknowledge that this portrait will 
do you no good., until after you are dead! but if, after 
you are dead and gone, you will '' still live," then, 
John, I shall have repaid your many kindnesses, with 
interest. 

7 



146 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

But, Jolin, I have not done with you yet. Your heart 
was good, but your conscience was of the India-rubber 
order. John, did you not, for six months previous to this 
election day, quietly and diplomatically interrogate every 
bona fide immigrant which you took over in your boat, 
what his opinion was on the prospect of Slaverj^, or no 
Slavery, in Kansas? Did you not find, at least, five out 
of every seven of these heads of families determined to 
vote " No Slavery ?" Ah, John ! to comfort me, you 
told me this. I did not ask your opinion, John ; but 
you guessed that the news would be acceptable to me, 
and you imparted it. But the "Self-Defensives" found 
you out, John. " Put no money in John Ellis's purse," 
was the word. 

But, behold, an invading army had to be crossed 
over the Missouri. John took a view of the camp. A 
quarter of a dollar, each way (of course, they would all 
come back again !) for a man and horse — and a dollar 
for every wagon. " There is no use in talking, these 
fellows will all get over, and they will all come back 
again, and their money is as good as that of anybody's 
else." John parleyed with Satan, and was outwitted. 
John hastened down to the office of the " Platte Argus," 
in Weston, and had a notice printed, precisely setting 
forth the following declaration : 

" Some illy-disposed persons have tried to injure 
my ferry, by stating that I refused to cross persons, last 
fell, to go to the election. This is false ; — it will be 
difficult to find one more sound on the 'goose,' than 
I am. 

"(Signed,) John Ellis." 



PLEASE ADVERTISE. 147 

This placard I read, where it was tacked up, on the 
side of the flat-boat. The business ox" John largely in- 
creased. A steam ferry-boat took the place of the flat, 
in a short time. This shows the importance of adver- 
tising ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DISCRETION THE BETTER PART OF VALOR. 

A BUGGY stood one Saturday afternoon in front of 
a store, in Weston ; tlie shafts of this veHcle aided by 
the harness, held up an apology for a horse! The 
buggy at this time was full of sundries ; a bag of corn- 
meal, several small packages of tea, sugar, coffee, &c., 
cooking utensils, such as a coffee-pot, frying-pan, a few 
camp platters, made of tin, and other little notions, too 
numerous to mention. I inquired whose establish- 
ment this was ? I was answered that it belonged to 
Dr. Lieb, of Leavenworth. I waited until I saw the 
Doctor. In one moment I will tell the reader why I 
wished to see him. I desired to preach at Leavenworth, 
the next day, eight miles distant. I had intended 
walking down. If I had hired a horse on that Satur- 
day, P. M., the charge would have beeu one dolhar for 
that afternoon, two dollars for the next day, and one 
dollar for the return on Monday morning ; ferriage 
both ways fifty cents ; livery for the horse a day and 
two nights, one dollar and fifty cents ; my own bill at 
the hotel for a day and a half, three dollars ; a sum 
total of nine dollars ! The clergy Avill understand 
what this exclamation point means, better than W. B. 
Astor. 

"Now," said I to myself, "if I can just get in with 

[1481 



A NEGOTIATION. 149 

the Doctor, and be trundled along on the level part of 
the road, I will walk up liill, and on Mond;iy I ^^'ill 
liavc all day to walk back; the expense nnder these 
favorable circumstances would only be three dollars 
and twenty cents, and this I had to pay out of my own 
pocket. 

The Doctor is now approaching. '^ Doctor, I would 
like to go down to Leavenworth with you?" Those 
who have ever seen the Doctor, will at once fancy 
the nervous twitch Avhich he gave his shoulder when 
this question was propounded. The Doctor replied, 
'' That the horse belonged to Mr. Smith, missionary 
among the Delawares," and referred me to the condi- 
tion of the beast. I told him " that I woidd walk up 
hills, if he could let me go with him." Another twitch 
of the shoulder, and a " Well," from his tongue. It was 
settled. 

'' Poor as a church mouse," has got to be stale — for c 
novelty, and which will be as equally true, let there be 
a variation : " As dilapidated as a missionary's horse." 

Dr. Lieb was a Pennsylvanian, but had lately been 
in Iowa. This latter State was too far advanced to 
permit of an opportunity to mend his fallen fortunes, 
so he came to Kansas; clean linen, the texture, the 
color of other garments, or the fashionable cuts, or nice 
adjustment of the whole to the human frame, were 
matters of "no consequence." The Doctor enjoyed 
the freedom of the border in all these particulars, to the 
full extent of the " Common Law." In person, the 
Doctor was very large and fleshy. The seat of the 
buggy was all occupied by him, save a small corner of 



150 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

it on wliicli I could lean, but not sit. Every minute or 
two tlie Doctor would make his nervous lurch, and so 
ponderous was the mountain of flesh thus made to 
quiver, that the vehicle would shake to its very centre, 
and the poor old horse would careen to either side ! 

I think that I have before hinted that the Doctor 
could enjoy a large quantity of " Bourbon," without 
being overcome. His philanthropy, however, was 
called into play in behalf of all those Avho could not 
thus endure and conquer : " Ymdt qui patitur^''^ was the 
Doctor's motto. 

The Doctor was advertised to deliver a Temperance 
Lecture at the Presbyterian Church in Weston, Mis- 
souri ! This was an attempt to carry the war into 
Africa, but it was not carried. 

During the interval between the announcement of 
the anticipated effort on the part of the Doctor, to re- 
trieve his fellow s, and the evening on which 

the rostrum Avas to have been occupied by the orator, 
office had sought the Doctor. Governor Reeder had 
appointed the Doctor to take the census of the Leaven- 
worth and other districts in the Territory. Of course 
the "Self-Defensives" said that nobody could be ap- 
pointed by the Governor, unless he was an Abolitionist I 

The Doctor was now to be received in Weston as 
an official of Governor Reeder should be. 

The church bell rang for the temperance lecture. I 
went over to the church. The odoi of pitch pervaded 
the street — the tar was seething, and the bag of feathers 
lay ready to deck a bird who stood in ne -A of plum- 



A DOCTOll SMELLS TAR. 151 

We waited and waited in the clmrcli ; finally the 
Eev. Mr. Starr, the pastor, with a mischievous twinkle 
in his eye, and a smile all over him, "presumed that 
other pressing duties had deprived the assembly of 
the pleasure of hearing Doctor Lieb, on a subject, for 
the discussion of which he was well qualified ; he would 
not, however, dismiss the audience, but would enter- 
tain them as well as he could be expected to do on so 
short a notice." 

It would never have done for Mr. Starr to have an- 
nounced having^ received a communication from the 
Doctor, telling them that he would be obliged to dis- 
appoint them. Oh no ; the best way was to let the 
matter go by default ! Leave it to the imagination of 
each. 

My impression was that the Doctor, being accjuainted 
with drugs and such like essences, had smelt tar, even 
across the river ; but I was afterwards informed that a 
friend had informed him of the honor which awaited 
him, and that he had resolved to decline it. 



CHAPTER XXY. 

THE AUTHOR OF THE BLACK LAW — SHOWING THAT 
CIRCUMSTANCES MAKE THE MAN. 

W. P. R. has been for many years a resident of St. 
Josepli, Mo. He is a large property holder. He is a 
frontiers-man in every sense of the term. He was 
Indian Agent for several tribes during the adminis- 
tration of Taylor and Fillmore. He is the father-in- 
law of a late Member of Congress from the Platte 
district. Among all my acquaintances on the border, 
I do not know of one who would carry the law of 
brutality so far in forcing slavery upon the people of 
Kansas, as W. P. E. He is a large, fierce-looking 
man, long accustomed to kick and cuff poor negroes 
and Indians, and abominates an anti-slavery white man 
more than he does either negro or Indian. I have 
learned, not many weeks past, from a highly-respecta- 
ble clergyman of our Episcopal church, who had the 
best opportunity to know the facts, that W. P. R. con- 
sulted with those who love me on the border, what 
had better be done with me. 

This is the only instance wherein actual personal 
abuse and decidedly brutal treatment had ever been ad- 
vised to be exercised toiuards me while I lived on the 
border. Yes, the author of the " Black Statute" in the 
so-called Kansas Laws, was the only one who ever 

[152] 



A MONSTER. 153 

offered to maltreat an inoffensive, weak, afflicted min- 
ister of his own churcli ! ! Tlie author of the Black 
X^r^^y — the law declared by almost every Senator in 
Congress, even from the South — yes, by the Senator 
from South Carolina, Mr. Butler, a disgrace to the age, 
a disgrace even to the Slave States themselves, was the 
man who would have had me, while I was lying sick 
at St. Joseph, and watched and nursed by slaveholders, 
this man would have had me taken off my sick-bed 
and tarred and feathered, and it may be, murdered! 
Oh, merciful God, is this the man who now is called 
General of the Militia of Kansas, — yes, who is at this 
moment in which I write, collecting a wild set of men 
to murder the few Free State settlers of Kansas ! 

If the " Genius of Liberty" Avere the meekest, the 
sweetest, and the purest, and the loveliest of virgins, 
and she should be sitting disconsolate by a log hut 
weeping and bewailing her condition on the plains of 
Kansas; and if accosted by W. P. E., and asked, 
"Woman, why weepest thou ?" and she should answer, 
"because they have taken away and murdered the 
last defender of Liberty on this soil," then that man 
would, with delight, spring from his horse, and throttle 
that loveliest of beings, simply because she was the 
Genius of Liberty ! 

I write that here which, before my God, I solemnly 
believe ! The black and cruel Law in the Draco- 
Kansas Code, is but the index of the black brutality 
of its author's heart. Come, sir, and kill me ; and the 
last moment of time to me will be the happiest, for I 
shall feel that Kansas will indeed be free I 
7* 



154 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

W. — ortliy P. — rince E. — uffian, is fhis General of 
tlie Kansas Militia. Cruel and bloody times will have 
made this man's name a stench in the nostrils of the 
latest posterity in the Western country. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A NATIONAL DEMOCRAT OFFERS A REWARD FOR A VIO- 
LATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

This chapter will contain a grave charge against a 
man in public life. 

There was issued at Parkville, in Platte County, in 
the State of Missouri, a paper called the "Parkville 
Luminary." It was edited by a gentleman by the 
name of Patterson : the proprietor of the paper was 
named Park, a very influential and respectable man, 
and long a resident in Missouri, — in fact, the substantial 
town of Parkville had been named after Mr. Park. I 
used to read this paper regularly. There were enter- 
prising men at the head of it. They had made ar- 
rangements for the reception of telegraphic despatches 
directly to them from St. Louis and the East, on current 
events, — a very rare circumstance for country newspa- 
per publishers, particularly in Missouri. This paper 
always advocated the institutions of the South and of 
the State of Missouri ; but one unfortunate mistake it 
made. Just after the election in Kansas, it gave forth 
to the world its opinion that it was not right for the 
]'>eople of Missouri to go over and vote at elections in 
Kansas. Now this was treason to the institution of 
Slavery ! It was worse than Abolition ; it was a leader 
of public opinion, telling the people that it was wrong 

|156] 



156 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

to force the institution of Slavery upon a people who 
did not want it ! The " Self-Defensives" were called 
in council^ and the destruction of the Press, and the 
banishment of its editors and proprietors, determined 
npon, and carried into effect. I assert here, without 
fear of contradiction, that the Constitution of the 
United States was violated in the destruction of the 
press, and in the expatriation of the above-named gentle- 
men, for the sole reason that in their responsible posi- 
tion they counselled righteousness ! Bear this in mind, 
for I wish to show you a man who offered to reward 
the iniquity. 

My wife and myself were on board of the steamboat 
Polar Star, on the Missouri river. Dr. Bonnifant, of 
Weston, and many others whom I knew, were there. 
The boat was a public place of resort ; there was a 
large crowd of passengers. At Kansas City there came 
on board a tall, wiry-looking man, about forty years 
of age, perhaps. There is nothing intellectual looking 
about him. He has a dull gray eje, coarse, sand- 
colored hair, very ordinary in every respect. This is 
J. W. Whitfield, late Indian Agent, and late M. C, 
but at the time of which I am writing, strong in his 
assurance of holding his seat in Congress. 

Now, nobody could believe otherwise than that this 
gentleman had been put in nomination by the " Weston 
Kegency" — I never believed, for nobody in Weston 
ever tried to make me believe, otherwise. The truth 
is, it was a piece of good news in Weston, too good to 
be kept, it was in everybody's mouth. The " Weston 
Eegency" nominated Whitfield, and the " Weston Ke- 



THE ISSUE. 157 

gcncy" effected his election, — lie was the Pro-Slavery 
candidate ; the name of democrat never entered into 
cither of the plans for nomination, or of those for elec- 
tion. But when J. W. AYhitfield got to Washington, 
there was some anxiety to learn on what issue he had 
been elected in Kansas ? The friends of the Kansas 
Bill got it through the House of Eepresentatives, by 
giving the assurance that Kansas could never become 
anything else but a Free State ; but behold Whitfield 
com.es, having been sent to Congress by Pro-Slavery 
men, to advocate Pro-Slavery interests ! What is to 
be done? Why, let Harry Hibbard, of New Ilamp- 
shire, address a letter to Whitfield, inquiring on what 
issue he had been elected, and let Whitfield write in 
reply, that he was elected on the " National Demo- 
cratic issue," 1. e., the Baltimore Platform issue : "Let 
Slavery alone." We shall take you at your word, Mr. 
Whitfield. I will hold you to it, for I want to pin to 
you a stigma unworthy an honest man. But just for 
the moment let me remark, that for this letter to Harry 
Hibbard, you come pretty near being shelved by the 
" Weston Eegency." The " Platte Argus" came down 
on you, Mr. Whitfield ; it declared, when it first pub- 
lished your letter, that you Avere elected on the Pro- 
Slavery issue, and none other. And the " Argus" was 
right. But, nevertheless, I am also bound to take you 
at your word. You have written that you were elected 
as a " National Democrat" — as one Avho reveres the 
very letters, and jots and tittles of that Constitution, as 
much as ever old Jew did the letters or points of the 
Hebrew Bible,~and yet, Mr. J. AV. Whitfield did 



158 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

loudly, and before liis own family, and before tlie family 
of Dr. Bonnifant, and in my hearing, and with a glance 
directed towards where I sat at table, declare the people 
of Parkville did well when they destroyed the press 
of the Luminary; and I, for one, will give twenty-five 
dollars towards procuring a medal for them, to com- 
memorate the deed ! 

This is the truth, reader : must there not, then, be 
great morality, much religion, abundance of patriotism, 
in that upper country ? 

Pooh, pooh ! we do not go to priests to learn politics I 
Neither do I go to dishonest political quacks, to get 
my divinity or morality. Tyranny, bloodshed, and civil 
war, come under my catalogue of crimes — and Slavery 
is the cause of these three crimes, being perpetrated on 
the border at this moment. If this is " National 
Democracy," then I will also add it to the list of 
crimes. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

DEVELOPMENT — A NEW AKTICLE REQUIEED IN THE 
CREED. 

The liberties of the Cliurcli, and tlie liberties of tlie 
State, if not identical, are closefy allied. If either is 
dependent on the other, then the liberties of the 
Chul'ch occupy the subordinate position. In countries 
where the Church and the State are united, there the 
politics are common. A statesman is a churchman, 
and a churchman is a politician. This state of things 
is unavoidable. For instance, in Great Britain^ what 
Church act does not receive the sanction of a lay par- 
liament, or what purely State act does not receive the 
assent of the Bench of Bishops ; or, if the question be 
on the rejection of a measure, either of an ecclesias- 
tical or of a secular nature, it must be rejected by the 
influence of both Cliurch and State. 

We have no such union of State and Church in the 
United States : very true, we have no particular body 
of professed Christian people recognized as the Church 
of the nation ; but the united body of professed Chris- 
tian people constitute this nation, with comparatively 
few exceptions— the only difference is, that a profes- 
sion of Christianity is not made a test for the enjoy- 
ment of any right or privilege of a purely political 

(150) 



160 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

nature. There is, tlien, an inseparable union of Cliris- 
tianitj and the State, even in these United States. 

As a professor of Christ's religion, or as both a pro- 
fessor and a teacher of the doctrines of the cross, a 
citizen of this Union has a profound interest in CA^ery 
important measure of the government. A flippant, 
empirical journalist Avill tell us, with a flourish of trum- 
pets, " that Ave do not go to the pulpit to learn politics." 
I for one reply, that I do not go to the " American 
Congress," or to any other Legislative body under 
heaven, for my "Moral LaAv" — this or that body can- 
not determine for me Avhat is sin^ or Avhat is not — Avhat 
shall be subjects for discourse to my people, or AA^hat 
shall be forbidden doctrine ! 

NoAV, my conscience has satisfied both my head and 
my heart, that the State has been circumscribing 
Christianity in its ouAvard march of peace and love to 
all men^ for many years past, but A\nthin these fcAV 
years most undoubtedly. 

There has been development in the State, on a sub- 
ject Avhich involves in jeopardy almost every point of 
God's laAV ! Is African slavery in America a blessing ? 
It has been legislated upon as if it Avere ; therefore, the 
policy of the State is conducted on this hypothesis. 
African slavery in the United States is a blessing ac- 
cording to lata ! Christianity, through her teachers, is 
invoked to endorse this manifesto. Is the Church pre- 
pared for the question ? 

I have made myself familiar Avith the records of 
history, Avith reference to human slaver}^. I have 
Ptudicd the subject in the Old Testament — there are 



THE FUGITIVE LAW. l(jl 

texts therein wliicli teacli nothing else but abolition. I 
have often considered tlie passages in tlie New Testa- 
]nent, wliicli recognize the existence of a bondage by 
law, Avhicli laiu Chrisiians never made ! I know the 
history of the introduction of African slavery into 
these States when they were colonies ; and one of the 
charges which is made in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence against the tyrant of the Colonies is, that "he has 
forced Slavery upon us !" I have read the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and I find a sentiment at war 
with chattel slavery — "all men are created equal," and 
the clause which follows this declaration contains its 
exegesis — "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness, are inalienable rights." I send to the wind the 
profane and absurd interpolation of these degenerate 
days : " All white men .only are contemplated !" Su- 
l^remely ridiculous ! Why did not the patriots insert 
the word white^ as our model legislators do, in this day 
of progress backwards? 

I have read the Constitution of the United States, 
and I wish to interpret it as its framers understood it. 
That the article in the instrument which declares the 
" persons held to service," &c., has reference to fugitive 
slaves, I never had a doubt, although, for wise and 
good purposes, the word slave does not disgrace the 
Constitution. I regret the existence of Slavery, and 
of course I regret the temporary moral necessity of the 
rendition of fugitive slaves; but, though it is a law which 
makes every good Christian man sigh — until God shall 
provide different^, let good patriots and statesmen of 
all parties do justice, with mercy, in this matter. 



162 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

In addition to my reading and tlie study of tlie fore- 
mentioned history and instruments, I have traced the 
sentiments of the patriots of the past ; and the result of 
my labors is the firm conviction, "that the founders 
of this Government regarded Slavery as a canker 
which was to be kept at all. hazards from spreading to 
the vitals of the body politic." 

Now, it will at once be obvious that under such a 
conviction, and with such a policy as is indicated above, 
neither the duties of a minister of God, nor the desires 
of a true philanthropist, would ever be obstructed. The 
amelioration of the evil Slavery would be as proper a 
subject for treatment^ as that of any other existing evil. 

But at this day everything is changed in the politi- 
cal world. Slavery is now a blessing, and must be ex- 
tended by law and by force of arms ! The Church 
may endorse the Constitution of the United States, 
take the Declaration of Independence and make it her 
own ; but is she prepared to waive her right to say 
that the bloody code of Kansas, and such like legis- 
lation, is at war with the rights of mankind and sub- 
versive of the teachings of Christ ? 

Will the Protestant Episcopal Church, in whose 
bosom a Washington was nurtured, surrender her high 
prerogative in the tremendous question which agitates 
at this time the moral world ? 

This great, conservative, and highly-esteemed Church, 
in whose collective capacity I was an officer and a 
minister ; whose commission to preach the Gospel of 
Christ I received at the hands of one of our Southern 
Bishops, acting in behalf of a Northern Bishop; has 



ADVERTISING FOR A PASTOR, 163 

not had tlie power to sustain me in Kansas, or to com- 
mend me successfully to the few members of onr 
Cliurch there, simply because I did not in my con- 
scieuce believe Slavery a blessing, and worthy of ex- 
tension. If a more heinous charge than this can be 
brought against me, I desire to be put on trial. I 
challenge investigation. My witnesses shall be Slave- 
holders themselves, on the Borders of Kansas ! 

I was told by a clergyman of our own Church, not 
two months since, that they are now writing East from 
one of the towns situated not more than seven miles 
from my former place of residence in Kansas, and 
a town in which I was well known, and expressing a 
desire to have a clergyman sent to them who will be 
in favor of Slavery I The Presbyterian Church at St. 
Joseph advertised for a Pastor, stating that if the ap- 
plicant should be a Northern man he must have 
Southern principles ! The Eev. F. Starr, Presbyterian 
Pastor at Weston, Mo., for seven years, which length 
of residence proves clearer than v\rould a score of affi- 
davits, that he was not a fanatic nor an incendiary, was 
obliged, when the Kansas question came up, to leave 
AVeston, because he could not conscientiously say " God 
speed " to the introduction of Slavery into that Terri- 
tory, by force and fraud ! I was not forcibly expelled 
from the country, but the effort to do so was suggested 
in more than one meeting of influential men, — my 
letters were robbed, my plans for Church extension 
were crushed, places wherein to preach the Gospel 
were denied me, the owners being impelled to refuse, 
as they told me, through fear, and all this and many 



164 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

more acts of oppression were exercised towards me, 
for tlie simple reason above stated. 

When I went to Kansas my heart and my conscience 
alone were for freedom — and the heart and the con- 
science of all onr clergy, with a few ignoble exceptions, 
are in favor of freedom, — but now my conscience, my 
heart, my head, my tongue, my pen, and if need be, 
my life, are at the service of Freedom ! 

Is the doctrine of Slavery extension implicitly held 
in the Church ? This dogma was required from me, I 
maintain, by friends and members of oar communion 
on the Border, as a condition on which alone I could 
preach the Gospel to them. Leading statesmen in the 
Southern States, Avho maintain that Slavery is a bless- 
ing, are selected to represent their Dioceses in our Gen- 
eral Convention : this is all very well if they in their 
heart believe that Slavery is a blessing, I cannot 
change their mind or interfere with their conscience, 
but I do wish to know whether they are determined to 
make their ideas articles of the faith ? For no less 
importance can be attached to the conduct of the Bor- 
derers, in my practical expulsion from Kansas, than 
that a belief in Slavery extension should be an article 
of the creed ! 

If our clergy do not chafe the consciences of the 
Slaveholder in the South by their public teachings, 
then I think, at least, the laity should, in return for 
the kindness, allow a narrow-minded clergyman to 
enjoy his private opinion on this subject of Slavery. 

Our Church bears a wonderful analogy in her gov- 
ernment and in her union to that of the State in these 



CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 165 

United States, — E Plurihus Unum is applicable to her 
now, and may it be perpetually so. Bat the liberty of 
propliesj'ing is infinitely more in danger in the States 
of the Church at the North, than are the liberties of 
the people in the Northern Civil States from the ag- 
gression of the South. 

Our Legislative bodies consist of a House of Bishops, 
a Bishop from every State or Diocese, — this is our 
Senate, — and a House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, 
consisting of four clergymen and four laymen from 
ever}^ State or Diocese, — this is our House of Eepre- 
sentatives. 

The reader will perceive that there is not representa- 
tion according to the number of the inhabitants of the 
diocese, or according to the number of the members, or 
of the clergy in the different dioceses ; but, simply and 
solely, on the number of the dioceses. 

For instance, the diocese of Arkansas, with its six or 
eight clergymen, and a few hundred communicants, has 
as much influence, in legislation for the Church, as the 
diocese of New York, with its hundreds of clergymen, 
and its tens of thousands of communicants. 

H the doctrine of Slavery extension is implicitly held 
in our Church, there is nothing to hinder the explicit 
setting of it forth, as a doctrine, and the addition of a 
new article to the creed. 

It can be accomplished, at any time, when a general 
convention meets. The best of all laws, the law of pru- 
dence and propriety, has kept this subject of Slavery 
out of the Episcopal Church ; but if this vile thing, once a 
degTaded servant, now attempts to Lord it in Church and 



166 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

State — causing civil war in the State, and mean, petty 
persecutions in the Church — ^will anybody tell me where 
our safety lies ? Shall I be told that the Church has 
nothing to fear, because the slaveholders who belong 
to the Church, and legislate for the Church, are men 
who are pious, or piously disposed, and, consequently, 
miLst regard Slavery as an evil, to be tolerated solely, 
by us, the people of God, as God himself tolerates and 
bears with a thousand evils ? Surely, if this were the 
sentiment, I should have been allowed to preach the 
Gospel undisturbed, on the Border, when I held in my 
hand the commission from a standing committee of the 
whole Church, and recommended to that committee by 
a Bishop, who has known me from the day I first be- 
gan my studies for the ministry. There are just such 
men in the South, as, for instance, Adam Beatty, 
Esq., of Kentucky, a churchman who has represent- 
ed the Diocese of Kentucky in General Convention, 
who is at this moment writing for liberty of speech in 
that State ; but let him beware, or leave, unless, indeed, 
Kentucky is tired of Slavery ; and if so, then a great 
additional reason is given to us why it should not be 
extended. 

But, where there is one Adam Beatty, there are ten 
thousand such churchmen as the Governor of Virginia, 
or as my communicant. Major Maclin, of the Border. 

After all our talking, and writing, and preaching, 
and fighting, there are but two sides to this question. 
Slavery is either a blessing, or it is a curse ; if it is a 
blessing, let it be so stated ; if it is an evil, let it be 
placed in the catalogue of evils, to be endured until it 



LET A NEW ARTICLE LE SET EOIlTlf. 1G7 

can, with safety, and moderation, and justice, be cured. 
I place it in this latter category ; but I cannot preach 
the Gospel on the Border, with these .sentiments, unless 
I go and throw myself into the arms of the Free State 
settlers, and take my revolver in my hand, to protect 
my life. I tell you, brethren in the Gospel roiniatry, 
this is the solemn and awful truth. 

Are not the liberties of the Church in danger, then? 
Is not the moral law of God in danger, as far as His 
law can be placed in danger, by the issue which I am 
considering. Is not Slavery a prime source of every 
crime forbidden in the Decalogue. This is true, and 
the good people of the South have often told me as 
much ; but I did not need to be told — I have seen it, 
I know it ; and it cannot be otherwise. 

Let a new article be set forth in the creed, then, that 
simple-minded clergymen from the North, who feel 
disposed to preach the Gospel of Christ in a Southern 
State, from whatever motive that is good — it may be, be- 
cause his constitution requires a milder climate — so that 
his conscience may be set at rest, Avhen he shall see the 
thousand ills of Slaverj^, by turning simply to the creed, 
and there this Slavery shall be found classed among the 
fundamentals of Christianity ! 

St. Bernard once preached against a greater absurdity 
than Slavery ; and one, for the setting forth of which 
nothing whatever could be gathered from the Scrip- 
tures — I refer to the doctrine of the ''Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Virgin Mother ;" and yet we have lived 
to see this set forth by the Avhole Roman Catholic 
world, in 1854, as a fundamental doctrine of Christian- 



168 THKEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

ity. If the doctrine of Slavery extension is now im- 
plicitly held by our Church, what is to forbid its being, 
in a few years, set forth in the creed ? — I BELIEVE 
IN THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. This 
will be a better recommendation to protection and to 
support, than "I believe in the Son of God," in the 
section of country where I have been, on the Border. 
This is the simple truth, and I can obtain, from slave- 
holders, testimony to its truth, over their own signa 
tures ! 

In the abstract, Slavery is either a blessing or it is a 
curse — it cannot be both, or a little of either. On this 
issue, we in the Church will soon be compelled to choose 
our sides. I have chosen mine — and who is there to 
forbid me, while the creed remains as it is ? 

"Ah, we'll have a canon passed," I hear some 
Southern Hotspur say, "to silence you gentlemen's 
trumpets in the pulpits." 

" But, oh, sir," I reply, " I will plead the canon of 
the Gospel, and the creeds of the Church ! There is 
no security but an amendment to the creed — and then 
I can be deposed for heresy !" 

Let the Church be warned in time. Let the treatment 
of Bishoj) Meade, in the Old Dominion, and the shame- 
ful persecution of a poor missionary of the Church, on 
the Border, warn us all that danger is at hand — yea, 
laying its heavy hand upon us ; the next step will be, 
to sign and seal the death-warrant of our Religious 
Liberty. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

the last kesource — shaking the dust off 
oxe's feet. 

During the winter of 1854, I made every effort 
possible, wliicli mj means and my circumstances per- 
mitted, to obtain a place of residence for my family, 
either at Leavenworth City or at Kickapoo. I made 
repeated applications to the keeper of the hotel at Leav- 
en^vortll. He as often told me, that ladies could not be 
accommodated, on any terms. It was the same at 
Kickapoo. At one time, as I before related, I had 
made a contract for the old Indian Mission House ; but, 
through the influence of the " Self Defensives," a Meth- 
odist Parson had to violate, not only his word and 
honor, but a written contract was repudiated by him. 

To render my situation more desperate, a letter from 
a brother clergyman, enclosing me sixty -three dollars, 
was robbed. My remittance check for half a year's 
salary, from the "Committee of the Church Missionary 
Society," was abstracted. I felt delicate to remind the 
Committee of what I supposed arose from its neglect, 
and I did not write to its secretary until months had 
passed. When I did write for information, I learned 
that my check had been duly forwarded, but that they 
could not exactly say to which office on. the Border ; 
but that it was either Weston or St. Joseph, I will 
refer to my search after this letter, in a following 
chapter. 



170 THKEE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER, 

Haviug no place actually ^vliere to go, in the Terri- 
tory, I concluded tliat my wife must remain at Weston, 
and tliat I must be separated from her, the greater part 
of the time. I could get no place to preach at, in Leav- 
enworth City-. At the garrison chapel, there was no 
admittance for me now. In days gone by, I was told, 
" that, at any time I would consent to give them a ser- 
vice, the commanding officer would send a carriage for 
me." But, now, Chaplain Kerr would insult me, by 
occasionally asking me if the Reverend Mr. Irish, at St. 
Joseph, could not be procured to preach for the church 
people at the garrison. Here I was, on the spot, and 
on the ground given me to cultivate, while the Rever- 
end Mr. I. was absent forty miles by land, and one 
hundred miles b}" water, and in a field of labor as dis- 
tinct as could possibly be — he in Missouri, and under 
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Missouri. 

At Kickapoo, I most frequently spent the Lord's 
day. This was but three miles distant from Weston ; 
I would walk the distance," and cross the river in John 
Ellis' flat-boat, when the ice would permit. The river 
does not often close before the first of January ; sev- 
eral times during the past ten or twelve years it has 
remained open during the winter, though, under such 
circumstances, the ice would be very troublesome, 
coming down the stream in masses. It is always more 
desirable to have the river frozen over, permitting foot 
men and horse-teams to cross. I was thankfal for the 
natural bridge; it saved me time, and I did not have 
any ferriage to pay. 

Well, at Kickapoo City I was the first preacher. 



NIGGER OR XO NIGGER. 171 

This made the Methodists jealous — " an Episcopal 
clergyman the first among the bushes." This would 
never do. The old missionar}^ — and a New Yorker 
too, at that — went round to inquire where he could 
purchase a " nigger." I did not want to purchase any 
" nigger." So the question between the preachers to 
gain the affections of the people, and to have the privi- 
lege of occupying the log-house on Sunday, was " nig 
ger or no nigger." I was "no nigger," and I became 
" no preach." " ISTo song, no supper." 

I was now obliged to go to my much-persecuted 
friend, William Braham, and ask him to allow me to 
officiate at his house ; this permission was given, and 
there to two or three I preached the Gospel ; and be- 
fore I left, I buried one of these. This William Braham 
was a discreet, good man ; he was, by trade, a carpen- 
ter ; he obtained work afterwards at Fort Leaven- 
worth, and my last foothold at Kickapoo was gone . 

At this crisis my expenses had been much greater 
than the sum which the Church had promised me. 
My outlay in reaching the Territory was nearly equal 
to half a year's salary, while at the end of the half- 
year, for reasons before stated, I had not received one 
dollar. 

Something must be done. I did not wish to leave 
tl^e Territory. 

Early in March, 1855, I determined to go out on the 
prairie, erect me a log-hut, like my neighbors, and 
preach to those who might feel disposed to hear, in 
the open air during the coming season. Never after 
this time did I attempt to preach at Kickapoo or at 
Leavenworth. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

IN HUNGER AND COLD. 

To quit Weston, Kickapoo, and Leavenworth, I liad 
been very long desirous ; I felt tliat it would be mad- 
ness to attempt to do so during the intense cold of 
mid-winter ; but winter lingered this season in the lap 
of spring. When a bright and beautiful day appeared, 
I would say : " Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over 
and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time 
of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the 
turtle is heard in our land." Allowing my imagina- 
tion " to paint to-morrow like this day," I took my 
blanket, Indian and Border style, and determined to 
become a " Squatter Sovereign." 

On this journey I had purposed travelling fourteen 
miles, three from Weston to Kickapoo, and eleven 
from this place to Penseneau's Crossing of the Stranger. 
The Stranger is a beautiful little stream, running very 
nearly south, through the eastern part of the Territory, 
and emptying into the Kansas river. The first choice 
claims were, of course, near the banks of the Missouri ; 
but the second choice were on Stranger creek. At 
Penseneau's Crossing, they had purposed laying off a 
town by the name of Martinsburg. There were two or 
three numerous families of the Martins settled here, 
from Platte County. A young lawyer by the name of 

(172) 



A JUDGE OF ELECTION. 173 

Bojd, residing at Kickapoo, but originally from Ten- 
nessee, contemplated making a town of this, and 
doubtless would have accomplished it, had he not been 
so unfortunate as to have been appointed one of the 
Judges of Election, when Whitfield ran the first time 
for Congress. Boyd was from a Slave State, and I 
presume would have voted for Slavery in Kansas; 
but no official of Keeder's could be sound on the 
"goose." When the Missourians presented themselves 
to vote, Boyd insisted upon all swearing in their 
votes; this was enough. He had but one eye, but 
this they swore thej^ would deprive him of. I took tea 
with the crowd at " Hays' Hotel," /. e., the old log be- 
longing to the Kickapoos — on the night after the elec- 
tion. Boyd's squeamish conscience came in for bless- 
ings in disguise. He was sitting then at the table, but 
taking it quite coolly. 

Bo}^!, like the rest of the Eeal Estate brokers, had 
determined to make money out of Martinsburg ; he 
got placards printed and posted up, telling us all, and 
the rest of the world, that there was no place like 
Martinsburg. I was not deceived by his statement 
into any such belief, and yet I thought that perhaps I 
had better go there and lay the foundation of the 
future city ! I was obliged to go somewhere, and why 
not there ? Not a blow had been struck, not a tree 
had been felled, not a stake had been driven; but 
there was the site of the city, and I might select the 
block which would hereafter become relatively the cor- 
ner of Wall and Broadway ! I went to Mr. A. G 
Boyd, and told him my plans. He was glad to see 



174 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

me, gave me tlie first clioice of tlie town, on conditions 
that a log-churcli be- at once erected, and a log-dwell- 
in :i' put np. I took Ms written agreement. It was, of 
course, noised abroad that Boyd's fortune was made, 
the Episcopal Bishop — as some of the ignorant ones 
usad to call me — had selected Martinsburg as his future 
See ! Fortunes ahead, now, was the word ! But not 
so fast. On almost every placard advertising Mar- 
tinsburg, which had the name of A. G. Boyd signed 
to it, had also affixed thereto an interpolation not fur- 
nished to the printer — " Abolitionist" was written as 
an exponent of the character of A. G. Boyd ; because 
A. G. Boyd had given me, as a clergyman of the Epis- 
copal church, a block of wild, unimproved land, twelve 
miles removed from the Missouri. Martinsburg stock, 
after this, could not be given away — bankruptcy was 
now evident. They coukl have endured the cholera, 
or the yellow fever, or the sniall-pox, but the Episco- 
pal preacher had gone there, that was enough. " Boyd 
was undoubtedly an Abolitionist." His little coop, 
which he called his Law Office, in Kickapoo City, was 
burned, and he was obliged to leave ! 

Well, I had taken my blanket and was now on my 
way, early in March, to take a look at my propertj^ 
I did not take a horse ; I expected to be gone two or 
three days, and I could not afford to keep a horse this 
length of time, nor feed him if I had taken him ; nor was 
there the least certainty that I would bring him back with 
me, for I have frequently found the poor Indians looking 
all over the country for their little ponies, which had 
been stolen from them by the highly-civilized whites ! 



A CAUTION. 175 

After I liacl travelled about six miles, not meeting 
in that distance a human being, I sat do^vn at a spring, 
took from my pocket a couple of biscuit, which I had 
sliced, and a little piece of ham inserted, a la sandwich. 
This I ate, and then turned me down on '■' all-fours," 
forming a natural hydraulic machine, and thus slaked 
my thirst. I felt refreshed, and taking out an apple I 
went on my way, munching it. 

I passed \n2irvj foundations. Perhaps I had better 
explain. Four logs laid in a quadrangle constituted a 
pre-emption claim of a " Squatter Sovereign." This 
was an indication that a building was in the course 
of erection. A shingle would very generally be set 
with one end driven into the ground, and on the other 
would be found written the name of the architect, and 
the proprietor. If you loved peace, why then you 
would not think of squatting within half a mile of this 
foundation, on either side; but if you should admire 
the taste of the absent architect, and fancy his location, 
why the first ox-team that you could hire you might 
bring and sjorawl the four logs all over ; and tken draw 
four logs yourself, place them some little distance from 
the place where the others were laid, place tlie shingle 
as aforesaid, with your own name written thereon, as 
architect and proprietor, with the additional caution — 

" K I find any d d rascal touching this foundation, 

I will cut his liver out!" 

Travel on, it is getting very cold. Blanket in re- 
quisition ; four more miles to travel. I expect to stay 
at Azariah Martin's — reach Azariah's log hut, but he 
is not there. The morning was pleasant, and I sup- 



176 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDEE. 

pose tliej took their horses and have gone off fifteen 
or twenty miles to* spend the day ! Yery social people 
in a new country. However, it was evident that they 
did not expect any call while they were absent, as a 
plow-chain and a j)adlock fastened the home-made 
door. I could have got in through several places, be- 
tween the logs, but I would have been but precious 
little less exposed to the cold, and my landscape view 
would have been cut off. Hungry, wearied and very 
cold, with night coming on. Cannot be helped. There 
is no snow on the ground, just get out of the wind and 
sit down and rest yourself. The next time, go out and 
tell Azariah Martin when you are coming ! " Misera- 
ble comforters are ye all," said Job. I think Job would 
have turned comforter to me himself, that night in 
Kansas. Fortune was still ahead! 

A rather frightful thought now occurred to me. 
There is no lack of wolves in Kansas ! Here was I, 
a shepherd, indeed, but having neither gun nor dog. 
A place of refuge I must have in reserve, should the 
prairie wolves begin to bark in any great number. I 
tride to insert my head between one or two of the most 
glaring of Azariah's " oak openings," but my head was 
larger than I had at first imagined it to be — the logs 
were as inhospitable as the plow-chain ; they said, de- 
cidedly, " no admittance." 

But poverty is the mother of invention. The log 
v/as low and the chimney was lower, and nearly as 
wide as the house itself; to the initiated this would 
need no explanation, but it is barely possible that this 
book may fall into the hands of some Fifth Avenue 



CASTLE BUILDING. 177 

Belle, and I will attempt au explanation. " One-half 
of the world knows not how the other half lives." 

We have in contemplation the erection of a log cabin 
for the particular information of the Fifth Avenue 
ladj of fashion. The cabin shall be sixteen feet in the 
clear — quite a large cabin for mere squatting purposes. 
Well, if the cabin is to be sixteen feet each way inside, 
we must have logs cut full eighteen feet long, to allow 
of saddling and notching — i. e., the end of one log 
must be chopped off in shape like the back-bone of a 
rather poor horse, and this is called saddling ; that is, 
this is prepared to receive the notch, which is made 
by chopping the end of another log into a shape 
sucb as a saddle presents in the under part, where the 
padding is. Saddle and notch — notch and saddle away 
now, at the end, and on the end of every log, until 
your house is up. 

Well, now you take a look to see where you would 
like to have the ornamentals, as, for instance, the chim- 
ney. Ah, very well ; we get a large cross-cut saw now, 
and saw out about eight feet in length of about five 
of tlie logs. So the logs are cut out, and of course a 
horse and cart could be backed into the cabin. A 
small cabin now, about six or eight feet square, must 
be built around this hole for the egress of the smoke, 
which may be made in the cabin fire-place. This ad- 
ditional cabin is not, at first, built up its entire length, 
neither is it raised often above the gable end of the 
cabin. Oh, Avell, I can tell you better than this. You 
have seen tOAvers to churches, built up in part and roofed 
over, until such times as the trustees can secure cash 
8* 



ITS THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDEE. 

enougli to surmount it with a spire ? Very well, tlien ; 
the backwoodsman has frequently to leave his chimney 
in this condition, either from want of help, or want of 
money, or Avant of disposition ; it was from the latter 
want that Azariah's chimney was not completed. He 
never did complete it. He said that the smoke was 
much lighter than the logs, and he hoped that it would 
always have an inclination to ascend, and thereby save 
him any further trouble. 

If the castle-building ladies of the Fifth Avenue cannot 
understand the foregoing mode of construction, then let 
them ask John C. Fremont, he can tell themall about it. 
If this little book should become a classic, then the 
boys will confound the construction of my cabin as 
much as the boys I once knew, did Caesar's bridge. 

The wolves did bark ! I barked up the logs and I 
barked doAvn the chimney ! I made up a fire, but I 
could not make up any bread — there was neither meal, 
flour, nor bacon. "When these failed Azariah, as they 
very frequently did, then he would go on a visiting 
and a borrowing tour. There was every evidence that 
he had been expelled, from the cabin on this day or the 
day before, by his craving creditor — appetite. 

Dinnerless, supperless, and a glorious prospect for 
breakfastless, I laid me down, and pulled the blanket 
over me. 

I know a Kector not many miles from New York, 
who will say, if he ever reads this — "ScrcAV loose,'' 
" screw loose, somewhere !" Yet this Rector can 
afford to get "bread and butter," and I can and will 
write about "when I could get none." 



CHAPTER XXX. 

TWO WEEKS CA^IPIXG AMID THE SXOW. 

On the lotli day of ]\[arcli, 1855, several relatives 
arrived at Weston, on tlie first boat wliicli came up the 
river. I mentioned to these my condition, and pro- 
posed that we should prepare to go out into the Terri- 
tory and camp until we could build a cabin. 

This was agreed to. I purchased forty yards of com- 
mon cotton cloth for the making of a tent. Twenty 
yards of rag carpet to spread on the ground for our 
bed, and two or three pairs of common blankets. All 
our bedding and clothing, save the few articles we wore 
daily, had been lost. In addition to these necessary 
articles to protect us in some degree from the cold, we 
procured some flour, and meal, and bacon, with a little 
tea, sugar, and coffee, as very great luxuries. 

Our articles for cooking consisted of a tin tea-pot 
and a tin coffee-pot, a frying pan, an iron oven or pot 
to bake our bread ; a tin bucket, a tin dish or pan, for 
mixing our bread, a few tin cups, and tin platters. 
Knives and forks and spoons we dispensed with, ex- 
cept as far as we could supply the deficiency by our 
own whittling knives. In addition to these, we pro- 
cured a couple of the Squatter Sovereigns' ^^vade 
mecum^^ axes. 

The next morning we procured our toara to take us 

[179] 



180 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

fourteen miles, charge six dollars, and two dollars to 
John Ellis for ferriage. 

"We started and got out beyond Kickapoo. My com- 
panions liad not seen as mncli of the unappropriated 
domain of Uncle Sam as I had, and, of course, I had to 
answer all questions with reference thereto. The 
^'' foundations^^'' and the ^^ cautions ^^^ afforded some merri- 
ment, and also led to a profound discussion of "Squatter 
Law." When I had got through with my exposition, 
the general impression among the company was, that 
they had never been in a free country before ! "Very 
possible," as Mr. Barnacle would have said. 

We kept on the great military road until we came 
to Mr. Fortune's log tavern. Mr. F. had laid off a city, 
about a mile from the city of Martinsburg, and had 
named it " Mount Pleasant." For once, my usual 
caution and extreme prudence failed me ; I inquired, 
" Where a wagon route might be found down to the 
city of Martinsburg?" The old man looked through 
his specs, but he did not open his lips. He wished the 
city of Martinsburg to remain without inhabitants ! 
We drove along through the timber in the direction of 
the city of our refuge. It had been snowing very 
much during the past hour or two, and it continued on 
all that afternoon. We soon approached a point from 
whence we could have seen Martinsburg, were it not 
snowing at the time. We stood on the high bluff 
•which overhangs " Stranger Creek." A dead halt now. 
We had ajpproached the point where, if any man or 
horse designed to go to the Creek, he must descend. We 
took the horses out of the wagon, and led them down 



A CAMP FIRE. 181 

the precipice, certainly quite one hundred and fifty 
feet from the summit to the bottom. We fastened the 
horses below, and returned to take out our provisions, 
and carry them down. The wagon was now to be got 
down. We fastened one of the wheels, one or two of 
us took hold of the tongue, and one or two grasped 
each a wheel, and all were charged to hold back with 
all their might, as our lives depended upon the issue 
of that wagon down that hill ! A tremendous rattling 
and shouting, on our part, as we descended, brought 
out Azariah Martin ! 

Azariah was smoking a pipe made of corn-cob, such 
as old General Jackson liad used and pronounced 
" Nonpareil." 

W^e asked Azariah whether we could get some din- 
ner at his cabin ? He said " that they were all sick 
with the chills." 

We loaded up our team again, put the horses to, 
and drove along about three-quarters of a mile further, 
to the place we had selected for our camping-ground, 
in the near vicinity of wood and water. 

The first thing in great requisition was a fire, and 
such a fire as, should it snow for a week, could not be 
quenched ! The axes were put in play, and about five 
cords of wood, consisting of tlie bodies and limbs of 
trees, were heaped up ; some brushwood, and leaves, 
and paper were lighted, and a fire that was a fire, soon 
blazed. 

Now for tent-making. Two stakes were procured 
about eight feet in length, with a crotch or fork in one 
end of each, the other end of each was sharpened and 



1«2 THREE YEARS OX TTIE TCAXSAS BORDER. 

driven into the ground, putting the two stakes on a 
line with each other (as I believe you cannot very well 
place them otherwise), ten feet apart. We now cut a 
ten-foot pole, for a ridge, and laid it in the two crotches 
of the two upright stakes. We now got out our cotton 
cloth, which had not been at all prepared for a tent, 
iiud arranged it over these timbers in a manner such 
as would have suggested itself to the merest tyro in 
tent-making. We spread the rag carpet on the ground 
inside of the tent. Took our provisions from the 
wagon, and placed them in the tent. The poor horses 
were taken out and tied for the night : they began to 
eat the bark from the limbs of the trees ; I insisted 
upon some of our corn-meal being given to the horses ; 
it cost a dollar and a half a bushel, and murmurs were 
made at the proposition, but the horses got a little of 
the meal. 

As our cooking utensils were in a state of untidiness, 
and ourselves tired and wet, we thought it best to send 
a committee to inquire if Mrs. Martin Avould not bake 
us a loaf of bread. She consented, and charged us 
eighty cents for baking the loaf. We kept cool, but 
intended to be our own bakers hencetbrth. The bacon 
was fried, and the tea was made, and we sat down on 
the stumps of the trees to enjoy 

" Life by the prairie fire." 

Azariah Martin came up to take tea with us, and to 
see how we liked the bread ! 

We sat up by the fire that night until after twelve 



:\il:tixv tn the camp. 18e3 

o'clock. It was quite cold. It had stopped snowing. 
We turned into the tent ; divided the blankets between 
each other. We each took our turn of getting up to 
warm ourselves at the fire, during the night. One of 
the party had his hat blown off the limb of a tree, into 
the fire, and entirely consumed, as we supposed, for it 
was never heard from after that night — it was a new 
hat. Another of the party had a hole burnt in his 
velvet cap while it was on his head, by a spark, we 
must believe — the hole was quite extensive ; but a cap 
with an opening in both ends was just as good in 
Kansas, as one with only the necessary enlargement 
for the head ! I do not think that the person has re- 
newed his cap to this day. 

The morning came, and we had our breakfast ; I 
left to take the wagon back to Weston, intending to 
walk on my return to the camp. 

I stayed in Weston a day or two, and then set out 
on foot for the tent on Stranger Creek. When I arrived, 
the camp was in a state of mutiny ! The novelty had 
worn off, and home in Kew Jersey and New York, 
was lauded to the skies. They all began to tell me 
their experience in prospecting. One had purchased 
a claim for ten dollars, from an Indian, but a white 
man " unjped" it the next day. The rest had seen 
nothing that pleased them. 

Sickness, poverty and starvation, they found in every 
cabin which they had visited. T cheered up the party, 
and told them to wait until better weather set in, and 
until we should get a claim, and have a cabin to protect 
us from the cold. 



184 TnREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

While I sat tliere comforting the party, a man came 
to the camp to ask us if we would not go over to his 
cabin, about a mile and a half distant, and help him to 
*' raise up" two Mustang ponies, which were pretty 
nearly dead with hunger ! We went over ; one of the 
ponies died. In the cabin of the man there was death. 
My brother, though a layman, had buried an infant the 
day before this, and the mother of that infant was there 
lying at the point of death. She had been salivated 
to a most cruel degree. I attended her for days. I 
think that she died at peace with God, and in a full 
hope of pardon through Christ. She was buried by 
me a few yards from her cabin. I took this oppor- 
tunity to tell the people who I was, and that I would 
preach regularly in the neighborhood. 

We remained in tent about two weeks; I did not 
see that anybody was likely to take any interest in the 
building up of Martinsburg, so I let the idea of settle- 
ment on the site of the town vanish from my thoughts. 
A cabin and a claim must be purchased. A cabin and 
a claim is the subject of the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A CABIN AND A CLAIM. 

The woman wliom I consoled in lier last hour, as 
mentioned in the previous chapter, and buried near 
the cabin in which she died, left a cabin and a claim 
behind her. The preemption law does not permit any 
" willing away" a clahn. Mrs. J. had been a widow, 
or worse than a widow, her husband had deserted her. 
She had now left behind her a married daughter, who 
was poor. According to Squatter Law, any of our 
party could have taken the cabin and the claim, with- 
out giving any consideration. Our party had a con- 
sultation, and we proposed to buy the claim. But 
before we had well made up our minds, the son-in-law 
of the late Mrs. J. came to inquire if we did not wish 
to buy the cabin and the claim. We gave him his 
price, and possession was taken. 

The quality of the rudeness of this cabin must be 
placed in the superlative degree. It was 12 feet square, 
the walls were about 8 feet high, mud chimney, five 
thousand air holes, but no window ; it had a ground 
or prairie floor. It was, when we bought it, used as a 
stable. We were obliged to shovel out a load or two 
of material, which a New Englander would like to 
have had to enrich his garden, but which was consid- 
ered useless in Kansas. The countenances of the 

[185] 



186 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

party briglitened up considerably on tlie signing of 
the '^ quit-claim deed," which made this important 
residence our own, to have and to hold, and to squat 
in, to our hearts' content. This cabin was a mile and 
a half from our camping ground, and there was no 
way of reaching it Avith a team, even if we had 
had one, without making a circuit of six miles. It 
was resolved that we should strike our tent, and carry 
up all the articles on our shoulders. It was a very 
difiicult job. It occupied all of that day and the next 
to get our truck up to the cabin. I longed for some 
pastiles, or a little frankincense, or a large quantity of 
cologne, to regale the apartments, but we could not 
even procure a piece of lime. Ammonium, they say, 
is healthy ; with this hope, we inhaled it in large quan- 
tities. 

The horses had left behind them som.e prairie hay. 
We procured part of it, and spread it down one side 
of the cabin, and laid the carpet down over the hay, 
thus making preparations for our repose. We never 
were more wearied in our lives than we were this 
night. But we had yet to prepare supper. AYater 
was now distant from our cabin three-quarters of a 
mile. Whoever should volunteer to go for the water 
now, must walk one mile and a half Well, one must 
cut the wood, another must do the cooking, and a third 
must go after the water. Thus matters were arranged. 
The frying of the bacon, I was gratified to perceive, 
had some qualifying effect on the common atmosphere 
of the room. 

The next morning we did as we had done the night 



A CLAIM NOT A FARM. 187 

previous. It was corn-meal bread and bacon for 
breakfast, bacon and corn-meal bread for dinner, with 
a little of the gravy for a relish ; and at supper-time 
we varied', and returned to corn -meal Ijrcad and bacon. 
If Professor Pierce of Harvard could only have given 
us a recipe how to use these twenty-one times a week, 
and yet never have them all on the table at the same 
time, he Avould liave conferred a lasting blessing on 
humanity! 

We were informed by the gentleman from whom we 
had purchased our estate, that there were about four 
hundred fence-rails scattered all over the supposed 
160 acres, which would fall to our share. We went 
out to look at these, and the other appurtenances of 
the claim. We came to the conclusion that there was 
very little more wanting to make the claim a capital farm 
than what is wanting on every other form, as it comes 
first from the hands of "Uncle Sam." It required a 
good deal of money, and a lifetime of hard labor, for 
the strongest of men, aided by the strongest of the 
domestic animals, such as the ox and the horse. 

These 160 acres which Ave had claimed and paid for, 
would have more than kept us all busy to get a liveli- 
hood from; but of course every man wanted a "cabin 
and a claim." It took two or three weeks for the rest 
of our party to make up their minds ; but by the end 
of that time they had done so. It was now all hurry 
and bustle to get the foundation logs cut and laid, and 
the "shingles," with the i;ames of the proposed build- 
ers, and the time when the claim was made, marked 
thereon. 



188 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

Two or three incidents occurred wliile about this 
important work, which may not be uninteresting. At 
one claim, one of our party had just got his logs down 
and his shingle set up, according to law, when an ox- 
team was seen slowly plodding along from a grove of 
timber towards the point at which w^e stood on the 
prairie. We soon discovered that the oxen had logs 
in tow, and that, in all probability, the men who were 
driving the oxen Avere architects. They approached 
us. It had been their design to lay a foundation very 
near the spot where Ave stood ; but they observed that 
we "had been and got ahead of theiii, and that we 
might have their logs." We thanked them very 
kindly, and took their logs, which they had been all 
day getting out, and laid them as the second tier on 
our house. 

They wanted to know which one of us Avas the 
preacher, and at Avhose cabin the preaching would be 
next Sunday. We satisfied them in these particulars. 
They A\^ere very anxious that we should uot confine 
our preaching to any particular locality. They thought 
that the better way Avould be to bring it right home to 
their doors. 

The other incident which I referred to as occurring 
during the location of claims, I will relate, just to shoAV 
how the system ^vorks. 

We observed a young man one forenoon, Avith an 
axe in his hand, stepping oflp, as we were satisfied, a 
claim that he Avas making. He seemed to be in much 
doubt about the result of his measurement. He 
stepped it off once or twice more, and then Avent to 



POWDER SAVED. 189 

cliop down his logs for a '' foundation." We went to 
him and told him that there was not room for a claim 
between that which one of our party had made and 
that which he felt disposed to a[)propriate to himself. 
He became furious, and was all for fight. The alter- 
cation, and the stepping, and the measuring, occupied 
the whole afternoon. Finally he left, under a protest, 
and with a declaration that he would be back next 
morning with a party of friends to settle the question. 
The general impression was, that there would be warm, 
if not bloody work, the next day ; and to prevent any- 
thing of this kind, I proposed that a compass should 
be taken, and a tape-line, having chains marked on it, 
should be taken, and the ground measured carefully, 
and if there was the possibility of a chance for a claim, 
to let the man have it. There was a disposition to 
measure the ground, but pretty little to give the absent 
man a claim. We measured the ground, and found 
that he could not get a claim. 

The next morning both parties assembled. The 
stranger had brought two men with him. All came 
prepared to defend their rights. It Avas decided to 
leave the matter to the arbitration of three individuals, 
each party choosing one, and these two selecting the 
third. The compass and the line were placed in the 
hands of the umpires, and the like result as we had 
arrived at before, was declared by them, viz., that 
there was " not room." The powder of- both parties 
was saved. We all parted, wishing each other success 
in cabining and in claiming. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



^TTl'c 



PREACHING THE GOSPEL, AND FINDING ONE'S SELF. 

The time embraced in this chapter of events, I would 
like to have understood as the spring and summer of 
1855. The exjjenses of my family had been very con- 
siderable, and, as I had not received any aid whatever 
from the authorities in the Church, as an honest man 
I was under obligations to attempt something, as a 
means of livelihood. 

I will first state our mode of conducting services, out 
on the Stranger. 

There was good land on both sides of this creek, 
consequently, ■ there were cabins on both sides, and 
people dwelling in them. The creek could not always 
be forded by women and children, so I proposed to 
preach at Penseneau's Crossing to the congrega- 
tions assembled on either side of the creek. I never 
used any service but that furnished by the Prayer 
Book ; but to attempt to have used the service, as con- 
ducted in Trinity Church, New York, for instance, 
would have been supremely ridiculous. While I offici- 
ated in this neighborhood, I had two or three funerals 
to attend. I have described a wedding — let me draw a 
picture of a funeral, on the Border. ^i^ 

Mrs. M. had been the mother of a numerous family 

[190] 



A BORDER FUNERAL. 191 

of sons and daughters — tlic most of whom lived at 
home, or in the neighborhood. 

The body of the mother was to be consigned to the 
grave. The neighbors, as a matter of course, would all 
be there. One turned his oxen out to graze, and, in his 
rough plowman's garb, went to attend the funeral; 
another laid his axe down, and went to help to dig the 
grave ; one of the sons of the deceased came over to a 
friend's, to borrow a cart, which was to be used as a 
hearse ; another, who could handle a plane, went to help 
to make the coffin for his own mother. The husband 
of the deceased would not ask me to officiate, as none 
of the family belonged to the Church ; a friend came, 
and told me the circumstances. What could I say in 
the premises, but that I would attend the funeral ? I 
went over to the log cabin, distant about a mile and a 
half, and helped to place the body in the coffin ; the 
wagon, having a pair of very young and unbroken 
oxen before it, was drawn up to the door. The nigh 
ox had a rope tied about its head, to lead it by. A son 
of the deceased led the team along, after the coffin had 
been laid in the wagon. I followed behind the wagon, 
to the grave ; but the great majorit}^ went in directions 
by which they could get more easily to the grave. As 
the ox-team, lead by one of the chief mourners, and my- 
self, were pursuing our journey over a very uneven 
road, we discovered many persons gathering towards 
the burial-spot, on horseback, in wagons, and on foot. 
They were collecting from miles around. 

The solemn Burial Service made a deep impression 
upon that sturdy pioneer throng. The reader may rest 



192 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

satisfied that I did not let tliat opportunitj- pass, without 
endeavoring to lead the hearts of that rude assembly to 
acknowledge Christ as the " Eesurrecticn and the 
Life." 

At this funeral, plans were devised for more stated 
services. A grove, in a central position, was selected, 
where seats should be constructed for the accommoda- 
tion of the people. This was done by cutting down a 
number of trees, and, when the limbs had been chopped 
off, split into halves, and these halves smoothed off 
with axes, and then placed in the manner of benches. 
A dry goods box was placed between the bodies of two 
standing trees, as a platform, or a pulpit, for myself; 
and overhead, between the two standing trees, brush- 
wood was arranged, to protect me from the sun. Here 
we had Methodist singing and Episcopal preaching. 

After we had progressed thus far, the weatlier had 
become quite pleasant. My wife was still at Weston 
— she now desired to come over with her infant child, 
and share our miseries. If we were to have ladies and 
children in the cabin, it must be fitted up a little. We 
got a dry-goods box for a table ; we extemporized a 
bedstead, by boring auger-holes in the logs of the cabin- 
wall, and inserting poles therein, and propping up the 
other ends, by stakes driven into the floor ; and then 
laying slats, split out of oak trees, a la cabinet bedstead. 
We kept adding to our comforts, of course ; but this 
was the beginning of housekeeping on the Prairie. All 
our housekeeping articles, as before stated, had been 
lost on the Missouri. My wife and child were brought 
over in the middle of ^fay. She and her sister-in-law 



PLEASURES ON THE BORDER. 193 

amused themselves killing rattlesnakes, as long as the 
novelty lasted. 

Our party bought, between us, a couple of yoke of 
oxen, two cows, a horse, wagon, plow, and other farm- 
insr utensils. We irot a Missouri settler to come and 
break up our garden, with our help. "We fenced the 
garden, and put in the crop. In addition to what the 
garden would produce, we must have some corn for 
the cattle, during the coming winter. We had no land 
broken, neither could we break it ; we formed a part- 
nership with the Missourian, who had broken the gar- 
den. We united teams with him, and went to Avork on 
his land — for the fencing of w^hich he had rails already 
split. There w^e prepared the land for about thirty -five 
acres of corn-land, and chopped in the seed with an axe. 
In addition to this, we aided each other in the erection 
of four cabins, during the summer. All the firewood 
which we needed, I was obliged to cut out of the forest. 
Every drop of water w^hich we used, if for ordinary 
purposes, I had to go and yoke up the oxen, and take 
a barrel three-quarters of a mile for it — if for drinking, 
then I had to take the horse, fasten a two-gallon jug to 
the saddle, and drive the same distance. If the most 
ordinary article should be wanted, then the same horse 
must be mounted, and driven fifteen miles for it, and 
fifteen miles back — always costing four times as much 
to reach the article, as it was w-orth at the store. Very 
frequently, indeed, did I go this distance for a bushel 
of corn-meal ; and when the corn -meal was reached, so 
precious was the commodity, that many competitors 
Avould endeavor to outbid each otlier, to gain it. 



194 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

This state of things continued for the whole summer, 
as a matter of course. 

In the meantime Ave preached regularly, every Sun- 
day, in the grove. On one occasion there was a negro 
man, by the name of Joe, who was lying down in the 
grass, at some little distance from the " white folks," 
listening to me preaching. Joe kept grinning all the 
while, as if there was something supremely ridiculous 
in my remarks. T was myself conscious that unusual 
solemnity possessed me, and that I was quite energetic 
in my gestures. I went to Joe, immediately after ser- 
vice, and asked him what he had been grinning at ? 
Joe laughed now immoderately. I will explain. The 
brush-wood, which screened me from the sun, shelved 
off behind me, like a shed. Joe anticipated that I would 
cap the climax, by knocking my head vigorously 
against the fixtures. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Things progress quite rapidly in a new country, 
although the highest attainments would be considered 
very ordinary displays by a New Yorker. For in- 
stance, during this summer of '55, I had preached at 
the crossing of a Crock, where the people either stood 
or sat doAvn, or did both by turns ; from this we had 
progressed to a grove where they had hewn log seats ; 
it was now in contemplation to erect a " log cabin," to 
be public property ! This was designed, according to 
the liberal wishes of the masses, to be a School-house 
for all on week days, and a preaching-house for every- 
body on Sundays. About fifteen heads of families felt 
disposed to enter into this project. A meeting was 
called,, to assemble near a certain spring on a certain 
day. I was. asked to draw up a " Constitution" for the 
Society, to be submitted to the " Sovereigns" at the 
meeting. For the next week or two I received ten or 
twelve calls from persons desirous to know where this 
building was to be located ? Some two or three of 
these persons had come from a distance of seven miles. 
The movement was regarded as highly important. The 
most thought that there was a speculation at the bot- 
tom of the project. It was regarded as the beginning 

[195] 



196 THREE YEARS OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

of a town, perhaps a city. I was not in tlie secret if 
this was the design, and yet I saw that the movement 
did require a little watching. 

There were Free . State men and Pro-Slavery men 
equally interested, and in about equal numbers. I be- 
gan to be a little suspicious that power might be the 
object sought for in this matter. Trustees, and other 
officers, were to be appointed for this joint School, or 
Meeting-house. I disclosed my views to a few on 
whom I could rely, and told them how to conduct 
themselves in case the Pro-Slavery party should muster 
too strongly at the meeting. I was afraid that if every- 
thing fell into the hands of the Pro-Slavery men, then, 
even after w^e had built the cabin, I should be forbid- 
den to preach in it. 

We assembled on the day appointed at the spring. 
There Avere about fifteen men. I observed with much 
satisftiction, that the Free State men were the most 
numerous. 

For two or three hours we debated the size and the 
material of which that one-room building should be — 
sixteen feet square was decided as the size. Each one 
was to have cut and hewn on his own place, three logs, 
and have them drawn to the spot hereafter to be de- 
scribed. In addition to this, each was to give in money 
two dollars and fifty cents, to procure a door, and win- 
dows, and flooring, and also for the plastering of the 
room. 

After this was done I read the " Constitution ;" which 
was debated and altered in many particulars. I found 
I had a thousand thins^s to learn with reference to 



A DEVICE. 197 

backwoods scliool-kccping. The permanent officers 
had now to be a|}pointcd, and I gave the private sig- 
nal which had been agreed upon in caucus of the Free 
State men. Nomination after nomination was made 
by the Free State party of those Pro-Slavery men 
whom we knew could neither read nor twite ; these 
Avere generous enough to decline the honors, and 
return the compliment by nominating Free State men 
Avho could read and write. With much show of hu- 
mility these accepted the offices. It was with the 
greatest difficulty that I could preserve my gravity at 
the complete success of this manoeuvre. A Free State 
Treasurer was appointed, who received the moneys on 
the spot. A building committee was appointed, a ma- 
jority of wdiom were Free State men. The Trustees 
were quite closely balanced, but in a full meeting the 
Free State interest, on any important issue, w^ould have 
been sustained. 

The site was chosen, and the logs wxre drawn on the 
ground ; but when I was taken severely ill the inter- 
est was lost in the project, and I never had the privi- 
lege to preach wnthin the walls of the building, which 
furnished us with so much matter for discussion in its 
inception. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ONCE MORE CALLED TO MOURN. 

While struggling along, working a mile or two 
from tlie cabin in the field, or endeavoring to make 
things a little smooth for my wife at home, our second 
and only child of five months old, whom I had named 
after one who had been more than a mother to me in 
my struggles with poverty in my boyhood, very sud- 
denly died. It was a sweet child. It would lie on the 
poor couch and laugh at the sunbeams pouring in 
through the many holes of our cabin ; and the mother 
would laugh at it as the loveliest sunbeam of all. 

My brothers went and dug another little grave. A 
very pretty little walnut coffin was made; many a 
kind-hearted person came to attend the funeral : my 
wife was so unwell she could not sit up on the bed. I 
was very feeble, but I read a portion of the service at 
the cabin. A neighbor took the coffin under his arm, 
I was placed on horseback, and we wended our sad way 
to the grave, and there I read, for the second time, the 
service over my own child. A jDarent's only earthly 
comfort, and a mother's little companion in her lone- 
liness, in that home worse than exile, was buried from 
our sight. The mother was never able to go and look 
on that little grave. When I got sufficient!}^ well, a 

[198] 



ONCE MOKE CALLED 'J'O MOURN. 199 

week or two before I left the country, I went and liad 
the body of our first babe raised out of the grave at 
Weston, and took it over to the Territory, and buried 
it in the same grave with the last, in a beautiful grove on 
the top of what the Indians call Strawberry Hill, from 
the circumstance that vast numbers of this fruit grow 
wild thereon. 

Lovely in their lives were these infants, and in 
death they are not divided. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

TEN DISMAL AND ANXIOUS WEEKS. 

DuRiNa the montlis of August and September, great 
quantities of rain fell in Kansas. The cabins of all 
the settlers were almost constantly in a state of flood. 
" Fever and Ague" laid both mj Avife and myself veiy 
low. All those to whom we could look for aid were 
likewise sick. We were reduced to mere skeletons, 
prostrated, without the least energy. No medicines 
v/-hich we could procure would keep off the disease 
for more than two or three days at a time. My brother, 
himself quite unwell, often rode into the State of Mis- 
souri for medicines, but they effected no service. 

In this condition I started out on the journey to 
look for my remittance from the Committee in New 
York. Nearly a year had now elapsed, and I had 
never received my salary. I was in very great need. 
On a day when I did not expect to have a chill, I 
started on a journey of thirty miles, on horseback, to 
inquire about the letter Avhich the Secretary of the 
Domestic Committee had written to me had been for- 
warded in due time. 

I had not ridden more than two or three miles, before 
I was very conscious that I would have a severe chill 
in an hour or so. I rode on, and when I reached 

[200 



A FKIKNl) IN NEED. 201 

Atchison, on the Missouri river, it came on. I crossed 
the ferrj, got a man to help me into the saddle, and 
on I -went for fifteen miles further, with a very high 
fever on, and a pain in my head and back almost be- 
yond endurance. Just at evening I reached a cabin 
about eight miles below St. Joseph ; I stopped at it. 
The inmates -discovered, without my telling them, what 
the difficulty was. They made a pallet for me on the 
floor, and prepared a dish of strong coffee; after I 
had rested and drank the coffee, I felt much better. I 
had my horse brought out, and started once more, and 
reached St. Joseph about eight o'clock. I did not stop 
in the town, but went out into the country three miles, 
to the house of a very dear friend, Mrs. James Car- 
gill. This family was from AVheeling, Va. They were 
slaveholders. I had lived with them for fifteen months. 
Mrs. C. was a communicant of the church. The family 
knew my sentiments well, but they also knew that I 
was not a disturber. 

When I drew up at the door on this evening, I had 
not seen Mrs. C. for two years previous. I need not 
say that our meeting was a joyful one, indeed it was 
most affectionate. Mrs. C. had a large family of children 
and grand-children. I was treated with the greatest 
respect by them all. They were all decided Pro-Slavery 
people, but they never said I was wrong in disapprov- 
ing of the outrages in Kansas. I would not stay longer 
than that night Avith Mrs. C. When I was about leav- 
ing, in the morning, she loaded me down with dehca- 
cies for my wife, and wo\ild not let me leave until I 
liad faithfully promised to fetch my wife over to her 
9* 



202 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

house and stay a montli or months, to recruit her health. 
I promised to do this, and rode away. When I reached 
town I went directly to the post-office, nothing doubt- 
ing but that my letter, with a check for my salary, 
would be there — but it was not. It was too late in the 
day now to permit of my reaching home that night, so 
I stayed all day in St. Joseph with a married daughter 
of Mrs. C, and about sundown I started, with the in- 
tention of staying at the log house of my friend of the 
previous evening. I reached it about nine o'clock, but 
the whole night I never slept — the^musquitoes were 
perfectly awful. These people were Missourians, but 
Free State in sentiment, and were almost decided to 
go over into Kansas to live, with the hope that it would 
become a Free State. 

The next day I reached home, Avith a sad heart, 
although I had some delicacies for my Avife, which 
money could not have procured in that country. 

I rested at home a day or two, and then started 
again for Kickapoo, Weston, and Fort Leavenworth, 
in search of my letter — this was a journey back and 
forth of fifty miles — it took me two daj^s. I found no 
letter. 

I wrote now from Fort Leavenworth to ISTew York, 
and told the Secretary that the letter had undoubtedly 
been robbed, as a previous one had been, with loss, 
and begged that a duplicate might be forwarded, drawn 
up after a form which I suggested, and to be sent to a 
certain post-office ; this I received by return of mail, 
and also a letter from my Bishop, containing a loan 
from his own private funds. I returned this, with 



THE MISSION RESIGNED. 203 

many thanks, at once. In the same letter from the 
Bishop, I was advised to retire from the Territory. I 
was glad of the relief. I wrote to the Committee, 
resigning my mission, to take effect on the 1st day of 
November, 1855. 

I got my check cashed, paid a number of debts, and 
prepared to leave tlie Territory. 



CHAPTEK XXXYI. 

FAEEWELL TO THE TERRITORY. 

It was very evident that the health of my wife and 
my own was failing very rapidly. For the three oi- 
four days previous to our journey to Missouri, to visit, 
our friend Mrs. C, we could not help ourselves in the 
smallest matter. The Joe, before mentioned, was seni 
by his master several times a day to see what could be 
done for us. 

While I lay in this critical state, a Committee of 
Squatters, Missourians too, came to inquire if I would 
not promise to go as a delegate to the Big Spring Con- 
vention, which was to select men to draw up the 
Topeka Constitution ! Poor fellows, I told them that 
the very fact of a clergyman representing them would 
prejudice their cause. I did not wish to discourage 
them by saying that I took no interest in political 
matters, and that I would on no consideration think it 
my duty to meet at that Convention for the purpose 
desired. Had I been able to go, and had I gone, our 
neighborhood would have been pillaged, and probably 
we would have been murdered. As it was, the 
" Squatter Sovereign," published at Atchison, threat- 
ened our neighborhood in the following terms. " There 
is a nest of traitors a few miles west of this place, Avho 
will find themselves hanging from the limbs of the 
trees which overhang the Stranger, if they do not keep 

[204] 



AN EDITORIAL COHP.S. 205 

very quiet." I would not have gone to the Conven- 
tion on any consideration ; I was in the employ of the 
Church, and it sent me to do no such work, however 
praiseworthy in itself. I scrupulously kept away from 
all exciting meetings during my stay in the Territory ; 
I challenge proof to the contrary. 

The day arrived when we were not to leave, but to 
be taken out of the cabin. The farm wagon was 
driven to the door ; our trunks were put in, and my 
wife and myself taken and laid on blankets in the bot- 
tom of the Avagon. We left cabin and claim, furni- 
ture, &c.; just as they were, and have never looked 
after them since. " All that a man hath will he give 
for his life." The wagon was driven about a mile, 
when we came to a soft piece of road, and the horses 
stopped, unable to draw the wagon. My brother, who 
was driving, left us and went in search of help ; he 
returned with two or three men. The trunks were 
taken out of the Avagon, my wife and myself were 
lifted out and laid on the top of the trunks. The 
wagon was then driven about one hundred yards on 
to the more compact earth, and ourselves and the 
trunks put back again into the wagon. In this way 
we were driven to Atchison, to take a boat up to St. 
Joseph. When we reached Atchison, I was carried to 
the hotel, the wagon could not be driven to the door. 
When we reached the hotel, I observed a number of 
the chivalry. The editors of the '^Squatter Sover- 
eign," J. H. Stringfellow, Bob Kelly, and Cun- 

difP, looked daggers at me. I did not know but that 
the fate of the Rev. Pardee Butler awaited me. This 



206 THREE YEAKS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

was tlie place, and these were some of tlie gentlemen 
to wliicli and to Avliom the honor belongs of sending 
down the Missouri, tied to a log, the above-named 
gentleman, who, I believe, is a Kentuckian by birth. 

At first we Avere told that we could receive no room 
at the hotel. I did not know what to think of this at 
first, but I afterwards learned that there was not room. 
But I found there Mr. Peter T. Abell and his lady, from 
Weston. They were quite civil to us. We were 
allowed to sit in theii' room until one should be vacated 
in the house. P. T. A. was a decided Pro-Slavery 
man; he was a leader among the "Self-Defensives." 
He was the partner of the Law firm, " Abell & 
Stringfellow," of Weston. Mr. Abell had some cause 
if not reason to justify his decided opposition to Free 
State settlers. A negro man had run away from him, 
and this negro would occasionally write from Canada, 
very insulting letters to him. 

While at Atchison we received no abuse ; all the 
attention, however, which I had shown me here, where 
I was well known, I had to pay well for. For three 
days and nights I remained at A., insensible, as I am 
informed, the greater portion of the time. The steamer 
Edinburgh, however, came up in the middle of the third 
night after our arrival, when I was supported on the 
one side by a wife, herself sick, and the keeper of the 
hotel on the other, down to the steamer. After the 
steamer had left the levee on her way to St. Joseph, 
about forty miles distant, while I was sitting in the 
cabin, as I am informed, I fell down on the floor in a 
congestive chill which is considere<d in that country 



ARRIVE AT ST. JOSEPH. 207 

almost invariably fatal. I was carried to the state- 
room, and here, I learned afterwards, two gentlemen 
acquainted with the nature of the disease, did all 
which reason and experience suggested to them. I 
recovered, in some measure, mj senses before wc 
reached St. Joseph. When we reached the levee there, 
the Rev. Mr. Irish came on board. He approached 
me, ana said, " Although I think you have done me a 
great wrong, I cannot withhold my sympathies from 
you in this condition." I did not understand him. I 
asked him to get me a carriage, that I might be taken 
out to my old friend, Mrs. Cargill's, three miles in the 
country. This I was told would be madness in my 
condition; the carriage was procured, and the Eev. 
ISlv. I. had me taken to his own house, where I re- 
mained about ten days in a very critical state, attended 
by the best medical aid in the town, and by the most 
assiduous nursing care of Mr. I. and his family. It 
was the general opinion that I could not live. Mr. J. 
Cargill and his family visited me daily. When it was 
quite safe for me to be taken to the country, I was 
carried out to Mrs. C.'s, where two children could not 
have received as much fond attention as my w^fe and 
myself did for the period of one month. After I had 
left this region of country, I wrote letters of thanks for 
kmdness received at the hands of Mr. I. and my dear 
friend, Mrs. C. It gives me pleasure now to do so, in 
a more public manner. On the 29th of October, 1855, 
we took the Polar Star, at St. Joseph, for St. Louis. 
It was on this trip down that Mr. J. W. Whitfield 
furnished me with the matter contained in a previous 
chapter. He was then on his wav to Washino-ton. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT CONDITION OF KANSAS. 

I HAVE thought that perhaps my view of the past 
and the present state of things in the Territory, would 
not be unacceptable, or altogether without utility. 

I am very much amazed at the incredulity which 
seems to possess the minds of many very excellent 
men with reference to the outrages in Kansas. 

They read of these deeds of demons in the news- 
papers, and the paper is thrown aside, with a sneer of 
utter scorn at the temerity of an editor who is so lost 
to a sense of truth as to insert such articles in his jour- 
nal. And these persons are confirmed in their senti- 
ments by two or three of the sober and conservative 
journals of New York, and the religious press very 
generally. The nearest approach to pandemonium 
that the editors of these journals have ever made in 
their lives, has been when they took a holiday at Sar- 
atoga or at Newport; therefore, they are not, neither 
can they be, Avith their present limited ideas of human 
nature, judges of affairs on the Border. Their opin- 
ion, I say, is worse than useless ; the}^ write of mat- 
ters concerning which they show perfect ignorance. 
It would be infinitely better for humanity that they 

[208] 



RESPONSIBILITIES ASSUMED. 209 

should keep altogctlier silent; and say, "asweliaro 
no correspondents in that region of country, we have 
no reports which we regard as reliable." But instead 
of doing this, they sneer at the statements made in 
papers much better furnished with facts than they are 
themselves. While they caution their sober and grave 
readers to give no credence to the reports furnished to 
the journals which have the largest circulation among 
the people, they unconsciously become the deceivers of 
good men, and the aiders and abettors of criminals of 
the deepest dye. • This is an awful Responsibility for 
the Editors of these Journals to assume. I know readers 
of these papers in the City of New York, who are told 
by them every day that the reports from Kansas are 
f:\brications, who if they could but be transported to 
Kansas for a day, they would fall down and weep 
over the outrages committed in the land of a Wash- 
ington ! 

I have no interest in what I write, save that justice 
may not be driven from her throne ; I trust that my 
experience will have some influence in counteracting 
the misstatements of the troubles on the Border, by 
some of the solid journals of New York. I have 
nothing to gain, but everything to lose, in making 
the statements which are embraced in this volume. I 
do not, I think, array myself in opposition to the 
sentiment of my brethren in the ministry in this par- 
ticular. I knoAY that many of them agree with me ; 
in truth, none with whom I have conversed, have in- 
timated a doubt to me that my story was not strictly 
correct ; they lamented such a state of things, but the 



210 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

question witTi them is, how tliey should interest them- 
selves to correct the abuses of which I complain. Thej 
must be their own judges, I am not their master. But 
I have seen men banded together for the prosecution 
of highly criminal acts ; I have seen these acts carried 
into effect by bad men ; I have heard worse things ad- 
vised than it has been possible to carry out. I have 
seen the laws of humanity violated by our own people 
against each other, and no notice taken of the affair 
by the Government, which acts, if they had been per- 
petrated by the barbarians of Japan, "or the Hottentots 
of Africa, upon any of our commercial marine, a 
squadron would have been despatched, and sud- 
den veno-eance would have fallen on their devoted 

o 

heads. 

Kansas has been, and is now,, in a state of civil war, 
and no effort has been made to stop it. The evil which 
keeps the country in its dreadfid state of anarchy, is the 
outrageous code of laws which has been forced upon the 
people by a foreign State, decidedly against the will of 
the majority of the residents of the Territory. I feel 
satisfied that those who have read the foregoing pages 
will not be so silly as to believe that the troubles began 
with the organization of companies of emigration in 
Massachusetts. Every step had been taken to establish 
Slavery in Kansas long before the Emigrant Aid Society 
had been heard of The organization of this Society 
startled the Slavery extensionists on the Border. Of this 
there is not the slightest doubt. But that the Aid Society 
had done a great evil, which required retaliation at the 
hands of the Pro-Slavery men, is simply absurd. Long- 



EMIGKANT AID SOCIETr. 211 

cherished plans, of the execution of which there seemed 
to be no doubt, were put in jeopardy by the organiza- 
tion of the Emigrant Aid Society ; and this reflection 
exasperated the Borderers. I am not the apologist of 
this Society. One of its chief managers asked me, at 
Saratoga, to become interested actively in its afiairs ; 
I declined, for obvious reasons ; but I never doubted 
that the organization was legitimate, and its operations 
in the main just and honorable. 

Appeals were made from the beginning, to the South^ 
by the papers in the Pro-Slavery interest on the Border, 
to send on men to settle Kansas. The leaders of the 
party had every hope of the result being in their favor, 
until steamboat after steamboat landed at Kansas City 
their loads of Free State settlers. Every day the cry 
would go up, in the streets of Weston, " Another crew 
of Abolitionists landed at Kansas!" 

These immigrants came peaceably-disposed, as a 
body. It would have been folly, if not madness, to 
have come \ip the Missouri, ''vowing vengeance, abo- 
lition, and servile insurrection." It cannot be shown 
that at any one time more than one hundred men in a 
company ever ascended the Missouri under the auspices 
of the Aid Society. Jijst fancy, reader, the attitude 
of these men in a strange and wild country, on board 
of a boat belonging to Missourians, setting at defiance 
the State of Missouri and the United States ! 

The Missourians saw no enemy and found no enemy 
in these men. But they did discover that Slavery 
would not be permitted in Kansas if such men were to 
be multiDlied. 



212 THEEE YEAIIS ON THE KANSAS BORDEIl. 

These immigrants, in the main, settled at Law- 
rence and in its neighborhood. They possessed 
the whole power there, and acted as law-abiding 
men, when there was no law in the Territory, and 
when others were violating the laws of a common 
humanity. 

There were three Free State papers published at 
Lawrence, " The Herald of Freedom," " The Free 
State," and the "Tribune." Let any impartial man 
compare the editorials of these journals with those of 
the "Leavenworth Herald," the " Squatter Sovereign," 
and the " Kansas Pioneer ;" he will find that while the 
one part}^ appealed to reason, to common sense, and to 
the sense of self-preservation, the other inflamed the 
multitude by arguments addressed to their baser nature. 
Murder and hanging mingled in every editorial, from 
the very first issue, and continue to mingle, unto this 
hour. 

Is there on record a single act of barbarity commit- 
ted by the people of Lawrence during their day of un- 
doubted power ? Not one. I have shown many on 
the part of the Slave interest. Base, inhuman mur- 
ders Avere committed, and no redress could be had by 
the Free State party. 

I never saw Governor Shannon ; he had arrived in 
the Territory about the time I left it. It was the gene- 
ral impression that he would be a man after the Pro- 
Slavery party's own heart. And to the best of my 
knowledge of the state of affairs in that country since, 
this impression has not been effaced. 

He was told to beware of the rock on which Reeder 



LET THE PATRIOTS RETURN. 213 

made shipwreck — tlie rock impartkdiiij. He profited 
hj tlie warning, lie scaled tlie bloody code, in the 
blood of honorable American citizens. Those acts for 
which our flithcrs were called patriots — the resistance 
of an odious tyranny — our brethren in Kansas imitated 
— and by the Government of this Eepublic they were 
arrested for Treason; the cannon turned on their 
dwellings ; the public houses, the homes of the stronger, 
Avere destroyed, petty thefts committed by the Legal 
Mob, which ought to have consigned them to the 
Tombs. 

The present condition of the Free State settlers in 
Kansas is truly alarming. The Code of Blood remains 
unrepealed. The Missouri laws are in full force. The 
Executive has determined that they shall be enforced. 
It is, in my opinion, madness for that noble band of 
Spartans to remain in that country and be shot down 
by a legalized mob. There is no mercy there, there is 
no justice there, for them. The country at large takes 
no interest in their wrongs. If they remain there in 
arms against the Government, they must inevitably 
perish. The Government is a government of a party — 
it has laid itself at the feet of the Slave power. Let 
these spirits of freedom come back among us — let them 
exhibit their rags and wretchedness, their wan coun 
tenances, their wounds and their bruises — and let the 
wddows and the orphans of the heroes departed, tell us 
of their wrongs ; infinitely more good wdll be accom- 
plished, than to remain there to pour out their life- 
blood for an unattainable good. The Government and 
the nation are against them. 



214 THEEE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

O justice, thou liast fled to brutisli beasts, and men 
have lost their reason ! J 

" Can no prayers Pierce thee ?" 



" Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, 
To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
That souls of animals infuse themselves 
Into the trunks of men ; thy currish spirit 
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter, 
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 
And whilst thou lay'st In thy unhallowed dam, 
Infused itself in thee ; for thy desires 
Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous." 



( 



CHAPTEK XXXYIII. 

TERRITORIAL OFFICERS. 
" Twelve butchers for a jury, and a Jeffries for a judge." 

While tliis work has been going through the press, 
I have been questioned about the Chief Justice of the 
Territory, and the Marshal of the Territory. I met 
with these gentlemen at a time when it was supposed 
that Fort Leavenworth would become the seat of Gov- 
ernment ; but I did not follow them to the Shawnee 
Mission, or to Lecompton, the theatre of their chief 
exploits. The Chief Justice is small of stature, very 
fair complexion, Avith quite an intellectual expression 
of coimtenance. In Baltimore, where the Judge, I 
believe,' formerly resided, he would, I think, have made 
a favorable impression ; but on the Border men have 
a faculty of losing their dignity, almost without ex- 
ception. I think that " model of deportment," Mr. 
Turveydrop, would have retired in disgust from 
Kansas. 

I have seen the Chief Justice sitting, where better 
men had sat before him, on a box, in that general ren- 
dezvous, the Sutler's office, at Fort Leavenworth ; and 
I have heard him talk as a partisan on Kansas affairs, 
in such a strain as pot-house politicians would have 
relished. His construction of the Law suits his luimor : 



216 THREE YEAES OX THE KANSAS BORDER. 

''Affection, 
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood 
Of what it likes, or loaths." 

The butcliers can at any time be impanelled for a 
jury, and the modern Jeffries will sit as judge of the 
Law, and command innocent men to be smitten con- 
trary to the Law. 

Marshal Donaldson came from Ohio to Kansas. 
He is about sixty years of age, jDcrhaps; and the hetter 
days of his life are not spent in Kansas. He is quite tall 
tall and slender. He must have been quite anxious to 
obtain ofiice. He needed it, like many of us. He could 
make himself quite agreeable in every society to be met 
with on the Border. My impression is that he saw the 
storm rising, when he first reached the territory ; but he 
did not, to my knowledge, define his position until after 
the Legislature had met and made laws ; and, until he 
found that Keeder's impartiality was rewarded by re- 
moval from ofiice ; then the Marshal became alarmed ; 
and has ever since been all that could be desired by the 
"Self-Defensives." "Free State settlers" have been 
hunted by him as were the Seminole Indians, in Florida, 
by our army. Extermination, or the most abject sub- 
mission, was the order in the camp of the Marshal. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

OUR COUNTRY. 

In 1850, after tlie settlement, as it was considered, 
of the difiiculties attending the discussion of the Slavery 
question, a doctor of divinity in our Episcopal Church, 
of transcendent abilities, and of oratorical powers not 
surpassed in the nation, preached a Sermon on the 
" Union" in oar chief city.^ It was justly regarded as 
a great and patriotic effort, — but the most singular 
mystery connected witli the whole affair, is how the 
great magician could take the " Union" for his text, 
and not preach, a political sermon ! 

That the great man did not preach, on political sub- 
jects is most evident; he was not taken to task or 
abused in our church, papers at the time ; neither did 
the more than pious secular press Avarn the doctor of 
the danger, the impropriety, and the awful responsi- 
bility of dragging politics into the pulpit ! Why, you 
simpleton, the passage of a "Fugitive Slave Bill" was 
effected at that crisis ; " The Union" was made a hunt- 
ing ground for runaway negroes, and was this not a 
subject worthy of prayer, preaching and thanksgiving? 
Call you that politics ? Why, no. 

* The preacher was invited to re-deliver the sermon in Washing- 
ton, which request was complied with, and I believe the Eepresent- 
atives' Hall was thrown open for the purpose 

10 t217] 



218 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

Many a time liave I said tliat I would walk ten 
miles to hear the divine I allude to preach, I so much 
admired his inimitable manner ; he possesses the ars 
celare artem to perfection : but if the magic skill which 
mast have guided his pen while he composed a sermon 
on the text, "Union," and at the same time kept it 
free from politics, is to be purchased at any sacrifice 
in my. power, while I compose a sermon on the text, 
"Our Country," and yet have no political bearing, 
then let me know what that sacrifice is to be ? Name 
it ! At what sacrifice can I obtain the superhuman 
power ? 

Oh, Nature, thou hast not been kind to me ! What- 
ever I write or say is taken by the mass of men to 
mean pretty nearly what my words declare, according 
to their dictionary definitions ; while polished rheto- 
ricians lecture on the Moon, and the press generally 
report the effort to have been a profound disquisition 
on " green cheese !" 

" Our Country" is my text for a farewell discourse. 
Is the theme too great for a priest ? Is the history of 
our country written in hieroglyphics ? No ; but if it 
were, in all probability you would call on a priest to 
interpret. Confucius was not our lawgiver ; but if he 
had been, a priest would have as good an opportunity 
to catch the spirit of the philosopher as any pot-house 
politician. The Constitution and the Laws of our coun- 
try are written in plain English, and why may not a 
priest understand them so as to give an opinion with- 
out committing treason ? Beardless youths mount the 
tripod to indite their leaders on Constitutional Law — 



PIRACY. 219 

it is their legitimate province — read, marK, and learn 
Avisdom! But you, priests, keep out of the arena, dab- 
ble not in the filthy pool of politics. The layman has 
successfully battled with the divine for the right of 
private judgment in the interpretation of the " Higher 
Law ;" the divine has an opportunity now to show that 
he may possibly be able to lead a layman to acknowl- 
edge that there is a responsibility attaching to the 
skirts of the gown in the tremendous issues which now 
involve the honor, the happiness, and the stability of 
" Our Country." 

The honor of our country is involved in the nature 
of our legislation on the question of human Slavery. 
The African Slave-trade is piracy, according to our 
laws. This is well ; but is the law founded on just 
principles? If the law was not in our Statute Book, 
would the African Slave-trade be piracy according to 
the law of nature? If we should find savage princes 
willing to sell what they had stolen, or captured in 
battle, have we not a right to bny and sell again ? The 
law declares that this trade is piracy, to be punished by 
death. The law is founded on the right of man to his 
liberty, and to his own life, and the profits of his own 
labor. In addition to this principle of right, civilized 
men have been induced to arrive at this conclusion, 
by taking a higher and a holier view of the destiny of 
man, than that arrived at by barbarians. " God has 
made of one blood all the families of men to dwell on 
tlic face of this earth," — the origin of man is one, his 
destiny is the same. 

The evils which attend the African Slave-trade is 



220 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

not tlie basis on which, it is declared piracy. If I am 
not mistaken very much, our Statute unwittingly en- 
tails evils which cannot be mentioned without horror, 
upon the poor victims of man's vile cupidity, such as 
would not befall them if the traffic were legitimate. 

It is generally acknowledged that the means which 
must be resorted to by the pirates and man- stealers to 
conceal from our coasters their cargoes of human 
beings, induce sufferings and woes unparalleled. 

Slavery in the United States has no more solid a 
basis on principle, than has the African Slave-trade. 
It exists by law, and is tolerated as an evil. It exists 
as a means of gain. It is tolerated as a means of gain. 
Negroes are raised for market as a means of gain. 
The internal Slave-trade is carried on as a means of 
gain. The existence of the institution itself is wrong, 
and the attendant and inseparable evils are highly 
immoral. Everything connected with the institution 
is a disgrace and a dishonor to the nation. I maintain 
that this sentiment obtains at the South. The ex- 
istence of Slavery is lamented, and yet cherished. 
It is lamented by good men and eschewed by good 
men. It is lamented by the Slaveholder, while it is 
cherished by him, and he takes every advantage 
which the law permits, to make slavery a grievous 
burden. It is lamented as a debauch^ laments the pro- 
pensity to sin which he gives himself no trouble to 
overcome. " The dog returns to his vomit again, and 
the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the 
mire." 

Is it not sufficient to ask of good men to tolerate 



ENERGIES WASTED. 221 

tliis evil, witlioTit insisting upon them to become its 
patrons and friends? 

Freemen, patriots, good and true men, both N'orth 
and South, the honor of your country is involved. 
Come to the rescue — tolerate, but never extend this 
evil ! This is the advice which the greit departed has 
left to you — heed it, and live in honor; despise it, and 
perish in shame ! 

The happiness of '' Our Country," who does not 
desire? Our happiness depends on our peace and 
prosperity as a nation. 

The energies which are wasted and lost in the angry 
debates on the subject of Slavery, both in the Congress 
of the nation, and in the many thousand assemblages 
of the people — to say nothing of the vast sums expend- 
ed by the government, and by the people in a private 
disbursement — would, if turned to the accomplishment 
of plans for public improvement, explorations of un- 
knov/n regions of our country, or of the world, the 
education of our people, the wise regulation of com- 
merce, the humane, and prudent, and beneficent encour- 
agement of immigration, the more efficacious and more 
just management of the public domain, the ameliora- 
tion of the condition of the victims of crime and sen- 
suality — finally, the extension of the blessings of the 
Gospel to those who never heard of the balm for every 
ill — then our country would more than realize the 
picture of a happy land, heretofore only painted by 
the imagination of the poets. 

But if Slavery extension is to tax our energies and 
monopolize the attention of our public men and our 



222 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

private citizens, and even draw off the minds of min- 
isters of God from more sacred things, then peace and 
prosperity, the greatest of earthly blessings, will be 
sought for in vain by ns. 

It is folly to hope that while Slavery is fostered and 
extended, and its pathway to Einpire cleared by those 
in power, that there can be peace or happiness among 
our people. There is nothing in the system which 
invites a scrutiny that can satisfy or please our minds. 
It cannot enlist our pride, or our enthusiasm, or our 
love. To ask good Christian men to keep quiet, when 
barbarism, in one of its most revolting features, is com- 
manding the attention of a nation like ours, to make 
it the very corner-stone of our Institutions, is the ex- 
treme of insult ; and to go beyond this, and abuse the 
ministry of peace and love and purity, because it will 
not acquiesce in a plan for the undoing of all the good 
which has been accomplished by eighteen centuries of 
patient endurance and self-sacrifice in the path of jus- 
tice and humanity, is putting the seal to our deeds of 
impiety. 

If it is to become the settled policy of the nation to 
throw every new Territory open to adventurers (as 
we throw bone's to dogs), and encourage these to mur- 
der each other on the specious pretext that this is one 
of their privileges, while the Slavery question alone is 
the point in dispute, then where is peace, and where is 
happiness ? There is no peace now, and he is crazy who 
promises peace in the future. The same bloody scenes 
will be enacted as have disgraced our country within 
the past two years in Kansas. The answer which is 



THEORY. 223 

given to this is, " the principle is right ; the theory of 
the Kansas Bill is good, and in accordance with the 
spirit of Democracy." It is the duty of every good 
government to rule the people well. The theory of 
the Kansas Bill on the subject of Slavery, is nothing 
but theory ; it is not based on just principles ; it permits 
a thoughtless band, not one in a hundred of whom 
owns a slave, or if owning never considering the evils 
of Slavery, to go by force and entail unnumbered woes 
upon a thousand generations who are to inhabit the soil. 
I could fill a book with the declarations of Southern 
statesmen wherein this sentiment is endorsed ; but 
what would they amount to ? When they made the 
declarations, it was the wise custom to regard Slavery 
as a crying evil, if not a daring sin ; but now it is one 
of the recognized subjects for the adoption or rejection 
of " Squatter Sovereigns," a matter of as little concern 
as the question whether they shall plow with horses 
or with- oxen. 

A Christian people must interfere in this matter, or 
peace and happiness will take their flight from our 
Border. The stability of " Our Country," and by this 
I mean the " Union" of these States in harmony and 
love — this boon is to be secured permanently by re- 
turning to first principles. Eefer to the compact by 
which these States were united. Do we find the least 
intimation that Slavery is to go pari passu with Free- 
dom in the formation of every new State government ? 
or that a balance of power is to be preserved between 
the Slave and the Free States ? Not a word of it. 
The terms of agreement between the States were very 



224 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

analogous to a firm going into partnersMp under tlie 
following circumstances : 

A., B. and C, had all been employed heretofore in a 
general producing and furnishing business, and among 
other items, the raising of negroes, and the buying and 
selling of men. A. was largely in the business ; B. 
moderately engaged ; and C. had a few for use at home, 
but none for sale. They all agreed that this feature 
in their business did them little good, and reflected no 
honor; still, their capital was invested, and if a closer 
partnership was to be made between the parties, the 
article of human bondage and traffic in men must be 
tK)lerated until such times as the article Avould sell 
off, or die off, and the business close on terms agreeable 
to A. and B. The partnership was entered into on these 
terms. For several years everj'thing went on Avell. C. 
got rid of his negroes, and B. was in a fair w^ay to get 
rid of his ; but A. found his becoming more and more 
valuable, and several times threatened to dissolve the 
partnership, if the terms were not modified on which 
he went into the firm ! A most unreasonable fellow 
became A. ! He saw an enemy in every servant of the 
establishment, and in pretty much every customer; 
and a furious fight would he have over every junior 
partner which might seek for admission into the firm. 
He forever talked of justice, and the right in the ab- 
stract. He acknowledged at one time, that the article 
for which he claimed the right to engage in more fully, 
and to take in more stock, was, at the time when the 
compact was made, unprofitable in a pecuniary point 
of view, and discreditable in the eyes of mankind ; but 



PLATFORMS. 225 

now lie claimed tliat the market liad changed and the 
current had set for a profitable investment ; and that 
as to the moral sentiment which pervaded mankind, it 
would also be changed altogether finally, and was in 
a fair way to be accomplished soon. 

" What makes all doctrines plain and clear ? 
About two hundred pounds a year ! 
And that which seemed quite plain before, 
Proved false again ? Two hundred more !" 

A. silenced, if he did not convince, B. and C; B. 
finally determined to hold on to his few negroes and raise 
stock for A., while both laughed in their sleeve at the 
wealthy, powerful, but too easy and good-natured old 
fogy C. Every servant in the establishment must nov,^ 
be sound on the great question of Slavery -fostering and 
Slavery-extension, or take his passports. 

A. and B. quote no passages from the original com- 
pact of the partnership but that clause having reference 
to giving back the runaways ; while the well-paid ser- 
vants of the house draw up bills designed to permit of 
every partner henceforth seeking for admission, to come 
with a resolute will to sustain and to extend that part 
of their business which is called slavery and negro- 
raising, to the subordination of every other item of 
trade and merchandise. In addition to all this, the 
needy clerks draw up documents, technically called 
platforms^ on which the man selected to manage the 
concern is to be laid, promising to forget and ignore all 
that he had ever said or written, or thought against the 
propriety of slavery being made the chief article of 
10* 



226 THREE YEAES ON THE KANSAS BOEDER. 

trade by tlie firm. This managing clerk must allow 
his brains to be extracted. Lis heart taken out, and 
his conscience stifled, and permit himself to be placed 
on the chair at the chief bureau of the firm, a mere 
automaton, so ghostly and so lifeless that his old ser- 
vant would not know him. 

Is " Our Country's" keeping to be given over to this 
nameless skeleton ? No longer a man, but a platform, 
on which 340,000 Slai^eholders are to crowd ; and in 
their eagerness to whip in and govern twenty millions 
of people, the bones of the old platform will be ground 
to powder, and the country ruined ! A patriot desires 
not this state of things ; he ought not, therefore, to run 
the risk. Insist upon the carrying out of the original 
terms of partnership. There is neither dishonor nor 
danger in so doing. 

There is another platform, whose supporters incline 
to coquette with Slavery and save the Union. It al- 
io avs itself, in one section of the country, to be fondled 
by Slavery, and to throw itself into the hands of 
Slavery. And while it does this, it would disfranchise 
several hundred thousand American citizens, as true 
to the Union and the welfare of this nation as if they 
had drawn their first breath on its soil. It would 
make a cipher of a people who have fought and bled 
for the country — who are the natural enemies of the 
foes of this Union. This party's platform would 
rivet the chains of Slavery on the black man forever, 
and it would enslave the white man who has fled to 
our shores as a refuge from tyranny and beggary. 
The peace, the happiness, the prosperity, and the sta- 



THE U^-10^- TARTr. 227 

bilitj of " Our Country" cannot be secured by tliis 
organization, and its wisest men have deserted the 
camp, in despair of ever accomplishing them by such 
means. 

I can find but one party — the party of the honest 
masses of the people, for whose success I can pray and 
act, in order to secure the stability of the Union and 
the peace of the country, and the freedom of that much- 
abused territory — Kansas. This is the organization 
which, in honor to the country, asks for the carrying 
out of the original compact by which this confederacy 
was founded. Ko more Slave States founded this 
Union, — no more Slavery-extension must preserve this 
Union. This party will respect the rights originally 
conceded to the South, and all the South ever asked 
or ever expected to have, when the Union was formed. 
But it declares boldly that the domain of Freedom 
shall not be clutched by Slavery. It declares that 
the power of this Government shall not be used to 
extend a remnant of barbarism by force and fraud. It 
declares, more than this, that barbarism shall not be 
extended farther by us as a Christian people. What 
good man is there who will not say that these are de- 
sirable things ? Have them accomplished, then. 

There is but one organization 2)ledged to secure 
these blessings. There is but one organization which 
will endeavor to secure them. This organization can- 
not be defeated but by a betrayal of Freedom on the 
part of those who profess to be Freedom's friends. 
This is absolutely true. If Freedom is to be crushed 
to tho earth, Knnsas ruined, and Slavery-extension 



228 THREE YEAPvS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

made tlie prime object of the Government, then it will 
all be accomplished by the I^Torth. ISTo good man can, 
like Gallio, " care for none of these things." Rouse, then, 
to the salvation of your country. There is a reserve 
corps in the northern section of our country, which 
must be called out on the present occasion. It will be 
found that nearly one-third of those entitled to the 
elective franchise in the northern States despise it by 
not exercising it. Look at the census reports, and see 
if this is not true. This reserve corps is the " Forlorn 
Hope" of Freedom. Let it be brought forward, and 
an honorable peace will reward an honorable and a 
glorious victory. " The Union will then stand." And 
this reserve corps — this " forlorn hope" of Freedom, 
will be found among the honest yeomen of the coun- 
try. Of this I feel well assured. Let, then, the 
true statement of my experience on the Kansas 
Border warn you of the designs of the Slave power. 
It seeks empire. It wishes to beat down the liberty 
of speech, of the press, and particularly of the pulpit 
— whose moral power it dreads. 

Shall the Protestant Episcopal Church, w^hich boasts 
of its catholicity — which w^ould pride itself on its anx- 
iety to preach the Gospel to the poor — which cherishes 
the declaration of St. Paul : " For there is neither Jew 
nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian, Bond nor Free ; 
but Christ is all, and in All" — shall this Church sur» 
render her prerogative to send her ministers to preach 
the Gospel of Christ anywhere in this Union, no matter 
wmat may be their opinion on the subject of Slavery? 

It would be criminal for any body of men to majN^e 



A POINTED QUESTIOX. 1:20 

a law, declaring it to be treason to hold an opinion 
that African Slavery, in America, is not morally, so- 
cially, and politically an evil. 

The writer holds this opinion, and yet he is not an 
Abolitionist ; neither will he ever become such, until 
such times as the evil of Slavery can be done away 
— moderately, justly, and mercifully. This is the 
sentiment of the N'orthern people who think. This is 
the sentiment of Northern Churchmen ; and the day is 
coming when they must declare themselves openly be- 
fore the world, or submit to surrender their civil and 
religious liberties. 

The foolish cr}^ of Abolitionism should deter no good 
man from doing his obvious duty. 

AVho fears abolition ? The South ? "What reason has 
the South to fear it ? Has it ever been attempted by the 
interference of an armed mob? Do not cry, then be- 
fore 3'ou are hurt. There are a few negro thieves, as 
there are other kinds of thieves, and they must operate 
in the same way, to succeed — ^by stealth and in secret; 
but abolition has never been attempted in any illegal 
manner. 

If there are men who are Abolitionists — and I do 
not deny that there are — your Kansas-^N'ebraska Bill, 
and your Slavery-extension measures, have multiplied 
them ten thousand fold. But the sword has not been 
taken in hand yet. Ko Northern mob has invaded 
your borders. Ko band of pirates has outraged your 
ballot-box. 

Can Slavery-extensionists say as much good of their 
friends ? 



230 THREE YEARS ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 

The blood of Kansas freemen cries — No ! Widows 
and orphans of murdered Americans weep, and say — 
No ! The bloody code of Kansas will forever cry — 
No! 

The bought-up cohort of Slavery-extensionists fright- 
en men with the cry of abolition — it disturbs not my 
nerves. I know that their design is to hold up the 
country to sale. The empire of Eome was sold and 
bought; civil wars, as a consequence, deluged it in 
blood. Eepublics can be sold and bought again. I 
can imagine 840,000 slaveholders bidding for a Re- 
public, and I can fancy it betrayed into their hands 
once, and the experiment tried again. I can see a 
Marius, and a Scylla, and a Caesar, and a Pompey, 
contending for dominion and glory, to be obtained 
by the ruin of their countr}^. Human nature is not 
changed; neither has my residence on the Border 
satisfied me that men have become more civilized than 
they Avere in the days of Greek and Eoman fame. II 
dire necessity forces the issue, I presume that even good 
men would choose the wager of battle, rather tban that, 
by sword and outrage, the moral pestilence of Slavery 
should be forced upon the unwilling people of many 
more territories. 

Let the Ballot-Box first, and wise Legislation after- 
w^ards, stay the advance of Slavery. 

Let Freemen exercise their undoubted power and 
their unquestioned right, in the coming struggle, and 
then the L^pas-tree of Slavery shall not be planted en 
the fair plains of Kansas, under the shade of which 

All death lives, and all life dies." 



APPENDIX, 



The writer, in the body of tlie work, attempted to 
paint the portrait of the Author of the Black Law ; it 
will bo an additional satisfaction to the reader to pos- 
sess the Bloody Statute itself in a permanent form. It 
may be important for reference — that he may know 
"why arrests have;^ been made for Treason in Kansas — 
murders committed there — property destroyed there, 
by the United States Armj-, in endeavoring to enforce 
this law. The reader will also perceive that I was a 
Traitor in Kansas — that every man who is opposed to 
Slavery, and residing there, is a Traitor — and that 
every emigrant, who goes from the East to settle in 
Kansas, will become a Traitor. More blood is to flow 
in the enforcing of this law, for the end is not yet. 

In addition to the Black Law of my friend, W. P. K., 
you will find a few extracts from other Model Kepub- 
lican Statutes. The quotations are made from the 
"Laws of the Territory of Kansas," published by au- 
thority of Congress. 



232 APPENDIX. 

Chapter 151.— SLAVES. 

An Act to Punish Offences against Slave Property. 

§ 1. Persons raising insun-ection punishable with death. 

2. Aider punishable with death. 

3. What constitutes felony. 

4. Punishment for decoying away slaves. 

5. Punishment for assisting slaves. 

6. What deemed grand larceny. 

7. What deemed felony. 

8. Punishment for concealing slaves. 

9. Punishment for rescuing slaves from officer. 

10. Penalty on officer who refuses to assist in capturing 

slaves. 

11. Printing of incendiary documents. 

12. What deemed a felony. 

13. Who are qualified as jurors. 

Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Terri- 
tory of Kansas, as follo^'s : 

Section 1. That every person, bond or free, who shall be con- 
victed of actually raising a rebellion or insurrection of slaves, free 
negroes, or mulattoes, in this Territory, shall suffer death. 

Sec. 2. Every free person who shall aid or assist in any rebellion 
or insurrection of slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, or shall furnish 
arms, or do any overt act in furtherance of such rebellion or insur- 
rection, shall suffer death. 

Sec. 3. If any free person shall, by speaking, writing, or print- 
ing, advise, persuade, or induce any slaves to rebel, conspire against, 
or murder any citizen of this Territory, or shall bring into.^printi 
write, publish, or circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, 
written, published, or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in 
the bringing into, printing, writing, publishing, or circulating in 
this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or circular, 
for the purpose of exciting insurrection, rebellion, revolt, or con- 
spiracy on the part of the slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes! against 
the citizens of the Territory or any part of them, such person shall 
be guilty of felony, and shall suffer death. 

Sec. 4. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away out of 
this Territory, any slave belonging to another, with intent to de- 
prive the owner thereof of the services of such slave, or with intent 
to effect or procure the freedom of such slave, he shall be adjudged 



APPENDIX. 233 

guilty of grand larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer 
death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

Sec. 5. If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, or 
persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this Territory, any 
slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or effect the free- 
dom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof ot 
the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand lar- 
ceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall sutler death, or be imprisoned 
at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

Sec. 6. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away out of 
any State or other Territory of the United States, any slave be- 
longing to another, with fntent to procure or effect the freedom of 
such slave, or to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such 
slave, and shall bring such slave into this Territory, he shall be ad- 
judged guilty of grand larceny, in the same manner as if such slave 
had been enticed, decoyed, or carried away out of this Territory, 
and in such case the larceny may be charged to have been com- 
mitted in any county of this Territory, into or through which such 
slave shall have been brought bv such person, and on conviction 
thereof, the person offending 'SHALL SUFFER DEATH, or be 
imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 

Sec. 7. If any person shall entice, persuade, or induce any slave 
to escape from the service of his master or owner, in this Territory, 
or shall aid or assist any slave in escaping from the service of his 
master or owner, or shall, aid, assist, harbor, or conceal any slave 
who may have escaped from the service of his master or owner, he 
shall be deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at 
hard labor for a term of not less than five years. 

Sec. 8. If any person in this Territory shall aid or assist, harbor 
or conceal, any slave who has escaped from the service of his mas- 
ter or owner, in another State or Territory, such person shall be 
punished in like manner as if such slave had escaped from the ser- 
vice of his master or owner in this Territory. 

Sec. 9. If any person shall resist any officer while attempting to 
arrest any slave that may have escaped from the service of his mas- 
ter or owner, or shall rescue such slave when in the custody of any 
officer or other person, or shall entice, persuade, aid or assist such 
slave to escape from the custody of any officer or other person, who 
may have such slave in custody, whether such slave have escaped 
from the service of his master or owner in this Territory, or in any 
other State or Territory, the person so offending shall ])e guilty of 
felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term of 
not less than two years. 

Sec. 10. If any marshal, sheriff, or constable, or the deputy of 
any such officer, shall, when required by any person, refuse to "aid 
or assist in the arrest and capture of any slave that may have es- 



234 APPENDIX. 



capcd from the service of his master or owner, whether such slave 
jshall have escaped from his master or owner in this Territory, or 
any Slale or other Territory, such officer shall be fined in a sum oi 
not loss than one hundred, nor more than five hundred dollars. 

Sec. 11. If any person print, write, introduce into, publish, or 
circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written, published, 
or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in bringing into, 
printing, publishing, or circulating within this Territory, any book, 
paper, pamphlet, magazine, handbill, or circular, containing any 
statements, arguments, opinions, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or in- 
ueudo, calculated to produce a disorderly, dangerous, or rebellious 
disafifection among the slaves in this Territory, or to induce such 
slaves to escape from the service of their masters, or to resist their 
authority, he shall be guilty of felony, and be punished by imprison- 
ment and hard labor for a term of not less than five years. 

Sec. 12. If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or 
maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Ter- 
ritory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, 
circulate, or cause to be introduced into this Territory, written, 
printed, published, or circulated in this Territory, any book, paper, 
magazine, pamphlet, or circular, containing any denial of the right 
of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be 
deemed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard 
labor for a term of not less than two years. 

Sec. 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding 
slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this Terri- 
tory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any prosecution for any vio- 
lation of any of the sections of this act. 

This act to take effect, and be in force, from and after the fif- 
teenth day of September, A. D., 1855. 



QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTOES— TEST OATHS. 

''An Act to regulate Elections" contains the following sections, 
page 282, chap. Q^ : 

Sec. 11. Every free white male citizen of the United States, and 
every free male Indian, who is made a citizen, by treaty or other- 
wise, and over the age of twenty-one years, who shall be an inhab- 
itant of this Territory, and of the county or district in which he offers 
to vote, and shall have paid a territorial tax, shall be a qualified 
elector for all elective ofi&cers : and all Indians who are inhabitants 



APPENDIX. 235 

of this Territory, and who may have adopted the customs of the 
white man, and who arc liable to pay taxes, shall be deemed citi- 
zens : Provided, That no soldier, seaman, or mariner, in the regular 
army or navy of the United States, shall be entitled to vote, by 
reason of beini? on service therein : And provided further, That no 
person who shall have been convicted of any violation of any pro- 
vision of an act of Congress, entitled, " An act respecting fugitives 
from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their mas- 
ters," approved February 12, 1793 ; or of an act to amend and sup- 
plementary to said act, approved 18th September, 1850 ; whether 
such conviction were by criminal proceeding or by civil action for 
the recovery of any penalty prescribed by either of said acts, in any 
courts of the United States or of any State or Territory, or of any 
offence deemed infamous, shall be entitled to vote at any election, 
or to hold any odice in this Territory : And provided further. That 
if any person offering to vote shall be challenged, and required to 
take an oath or alBrmation, to be administered by one of the judges 
of the election, that he will sustain the provisions of the above- 
recited acts of Congress, and of the act entitled, " An act to organ- 
ize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas," approved ]May 30, 
1854, and shall refuse to take such oath or affirmation, the vote of 
such person shall be rejected. 

Sec. 12. Every person possessing the qualification of a voter, as 
hereinabove prescribed, and who shall have resided in this Terri- 
tory thirty days prior to the election, at which he may offer himself 
as a candidate, shall be eligible as a delegate to the House of Rep- 
resentatives of the United States, to either branch of the legislative 
assembly, and to all other offices in this Territory, not otherwise 
especially provided for : Provided, however, That each member of 
the legislative assembly, and every officer elected or appointed to 
office under the laws of this Territory, shall, in addition to the oath 
or affirmation specially provided to be taken by such officer, take an 
oath or affn-raatiou to support the Constitution of the United 
States, the provisions of an act entitled " An act respecting fugi- 
tives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their 
masters," approved February 12, 1793 ; and of an act to amend 
and supplementary to said last-mentioned act, approved September 
18, 1850 ; and of an act entitled " An act to organize the Terri- 
tories of Nebraska and Kansas," approved May 30, 1854. 

Sec. 19. Whenever any person shall offer to vote, he shall be 
presumed to be entitled to vote. 

Sec. 20. Whenever any person offers to vote, his vote may be 
challenged by one of the judges or by any voter, and the judges of 
the election may examine him touching his right to vote ; and if so 
examined, no evidence to contradict shall be received. Or the 
judges may, in the first instance, receive other evidence ; in which 



236 AFPENDIX. 

event, the applicant may if lie desire it, demand to be sworn, but his 
testimony shall not then be conclusive. 

Again, on page 438, in Chap. Ill, '-An Act regulating oaths, 
and prescribing the form of oaths of office," the following enact- 
ments may be found : 

Section 1. All officers elected or appointed under any existing or 
subsequently-enacted laws of this Territory, shall take and subscribe 

the following oath of office : " I, , do solemnly swear upon the 

holy evangelists of Almighty God, that I will support the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and that I will support and sustain the 
provisions of an act entitled ' An act to organize the Territories of 
Nebraska and Kansas,' and the provisions of the law of the United 
States, commonly known as the ' Fugitive Slave Law,' and faith- 
fully and impartially, and to the best of my ability, demean myself 
in the discharge of my duties in the office of ; so help me God." 

Sec. 2. Which oath of office shall be endorsed on every commis- 
sion or certificate of appointment, and may be administered by any 
person in this Territory authorized to administer oaths. 

Sec. 6. All oaths and affirmations alike subject the party who 
shall falsify them to the pains and penalties of perjury. 



ATTOENETS AT LAY/— MORE TEST OATHS. 

'' An act concerning attorneys at laiv,'' Chapter 11, page 118, 
provides as follows : 

Sec. 1. No person shall practice as an attorney or counsellor at 
law, or solicitor in chancery, in any court of record, unlcs'? he be a 
free white male, and obtain a license from the supreme court, or 
district court, or some one of the judges thereof, in vacation. 

Sec. 3. Every person obtaining a license shall take an oath or 
affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and 
to support and sustain tlie provisions of an act entitled " An act to 
organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kfinsas," and the pro- 
visions of an act commonly known as " The Fugitive Slave I-aw," 
and faithfully to demean himself in his practice to the best of his 
knowledge and ability. A certificate of such oath shall be endorsed 
on the license. 

Sec. 5. If any person shall practice law in any court of record, 
without being licensed, sworn, and enrolled, he shall be deemed 
guilty of a contempt of court, and punished as in other cases of 
contempt. 



APPENDIX. 237 



CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS. 

" An act concerning crimes and the punishment of offences against 
the persons of individuals,'' Chapter 48, pa^e 205, provides : 

Sec. 5. Homicide shall be deemed excusable when committed by 
accident or misfortune in either of the following cases : First, in 
lawfully correcting a child, apprentice, servant, or slave, or in doing 
any other lawful act by lawful means, with usual and ordinary cau- 
tion, and without unlawful intent ; or, Second, in the heat of pas- 
sion, upon any sudden or sufficient provocation, or upon sudden 
combat without any undue advantage being taken, and without any 
dangerous weapon being used, and not done in a cruel and unusual 
manner. 

Sec. 31. If any negro or mulatto shall take away any white 
female under the age of eighteen years, from her father, mother, 
guardian, or other person having the legal charge of her person, 
without their consent, for the purpose of prostitution, concubinage, 
or marriage with him, or any other negro or mulatto, he shall, on 
conviction, be sentenced to castration, to be performed under the 
direction of the sheriff, by some skilful person, and the expense shall 
be adjusted, taxed, and paid as other costs. 

Sec. 43. p]very person who shall maliciously, forcibly or fraudu- 
lently lead, take or carry away, or decoy, or entice away, any child 
under the age of twelve years, with intent to detain or conceal such 
child from its parent, guardian, or other person having the lawful 
charge of such cliild, shall , upon conviction, be punished by con- 
finement and hard labor, not exceeding live years, or imprisonment 
in the county jail not less than six months, or by fine not less than 
five hundred dollars. 

" An act in relation to the general provisions regulating crimes 
and punishments,'" provides (pages 252 and 253), as follows : 

Sec. 27. If any slave shall commit petit larceny, or shall steal 
any neat cattle, sheep or hog, or be guilty of any misdemeanor, or 
other oifence punishable under the provisions of this act only by 
fine or imprisonment in a county jail, or by both such fine and im- 
prisonment, he shall, instead of such punishment, be punished, if a 
male, by stripes on his bare back not exceeding thirty-nine, or if a 
female, by imprisonment in o county jail not exceeding twen4:y-one 
days, or by stripes not exceeding twenty-one, at the discretion of 
the justice. 

Sec. 28. Every slave charged with the commission of any of the 
offences specified in the last section, shall be tried in a summary 



238 APPENDIX. 

manner before a justice of the peace in tlio county in which the 
offence is committed ; and sucli justice (if a jury is not required, as 
provided for in the next section) shall hear the evidence, determine 
the cause, and, on conviction, pronounce sentence, and cause the 
same to be executed. 

Sec. 29. If any slave or his master, in any case cognizable before 
a justice of tiie peace, shall reciuirc a jury, the justice shall cause 
such jury to be summoned, sworn, and impanelled, who shall de- 
termine tiie facts, and assess the punishment in case of conviction, 
and the nistice shall enter judgment and cause the same to be exe- 
cuted. 

Sec. 34. When any slave shall be convicted of a felony punish- 
able by confinement and hard labor, the court before whom such 
conviction shall be had shall sentence the offender to receive on his 
bare back any number of stripes not exceeding thirty-nine. 



WHO MAY AND WHO MAY NOT BE JURORS. 

The quality of justice which a Free State man might reasonably 
expect at the hands of a Kansas court, may be surmised from Chap. 
92, Sees. 1 and 13, of " An Act concerning jurors,'' pages 377 and 
378, from which it will be seen that instead of drawing jurors by 
lot, the court may summon a sufficient number, (for summon read 
" pack,") and that all who question the divinity of Slavery are ab- 
solutely excluded from all juries which may be required to consider 
directly or remotely the question of Slavery. 

Sec. 1. All courts before whom jurors are required, may order 
the marshal, sheriff, or other officer, to summon a sufficient number 
of jurors. 

Sec. 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to the hold- 
ing slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this 
Territory, shall be a juror in any cause in which the right to hold 
any person in slavery is involved, nor in any cause in which any 
injury done to or committed by any slave is in issue, nor in any 
criminal proceeding for the violation of any law enacted for the pro- 
tection of slave property and for the punishment of crimes commit- 
ted against the right to such property. 



APPENDIX. 239 



HABEAS CORPUS. 

" An Act regulating proceedings on writs of habeas corpus.'' 
Chapter 79, article 3, page 345, contains the following : 

Sec. 8. No negro or mulatto, held as a slave within this Tcrri 
tory, or lawfully\irrestcd as a fugitive from service fi-om another 
State or Territi^ry, shall be discharged, nor shall his eight of free- 
dom be had under the provisions of this act. 

The foregoing provision, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, is 
not only a violation of the Constitution of the United States, but 
of the Kansas-NclDraska Act itself, which provides as follows : 

" Except also that a writ of error or appeal shall also be allowed 
to the Supreme Court of the United States, from the decision of 
the said supreme court created by this act, or of any judge thereof, 
or of the district courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, 
upon any writ of habeas corpus, involving the question of personal 
freedom." 



THE CHAIN AND BALL. 

The following shows the treatment to which citizens are liable 
to be subjected for questioning the right of Border Euffians to 
merchandise in human flesh and blood in the Territory of Kansas. 
Bead and make your own comments. We copy from " An act pro- 
viding a system of confinement and hard labor,'' Chapter 22, page 
146. 

Sec. 1. Every keeper of a jail, or other public prison, within this 
Territory, is hereby required to cause all convicts who may be con- 
fined in the prison of which he is the keeper, under sentence of con- 
finement and hard labor, either on the streets, roads, public build- 
ings, or other public works of the Territory, or on some public 
works of the county in which such convicts may be imprisoned, or 
on private v,'orks wherever may be hereinafter specified ; or if there 
be no public works of the Territory on which to employ such con- 
victs, or if the county wherein such convicts may be confined have 
no public works on which to employ such convicts, then such con- 
victs may be employed on the public works of any other county in 



240 APPENDIX. 

the Territory where there may be work to employ such convicts ; or 
such convicts may be employed on the public works of any incor- 
porate town or city, within this Territory, either in the county in 
which such convicts may be confined, or in some other county in the 
Territory, 

Sec. 2. Every person who may be sentenced by any court of com- 
petent jurisdiction, under any law in force within this Territory, to 
punishment by confinement and hard labor, shall be deemed a con- 
vict, and shall immediately, under the charge of the keeper of such 
jail or publi(f prison, or under the charge of such person as the 
keeper of such jail or public prison may select, be put to hard labor, 
as in the first section of this act specified ; and such keeper or other 
person, having charge of such convict, shall cause such convict, 
while engaged at such labor, to be securely confined by a chain six 
feet in length, of not less than four-sixteenths nor more than three- 
eighths of an inch links, with a round ball of iron, of not less than 
four nor more than six inches in diameter, attached, which chain 
shall be securely fastened to the ankle of such convict with a strong 
lock and key ; and such keeper or other person, having charge of 
such convict, may, if necessary, confine such convict, while so en- 
gaged at hard labor, by other chains or other means in his discre- 
tion, so as to keep such convict secure and prevent his escape ; and 
when there shall be two or more convicts under the charge of such 
keeper, or other person, such convicts shall be fastened together by 
strong chains, with strong locks and keys, during the time such 
convicts shall be engaged in hard labor without the walls of any 
jail or prison. 



